Prosecutor: Ex-Detroit mayor Kilpatrick’s failure to make restitution is probation violation

Ex-Detroit mayor fails to make restitution payment

DETROIT — The prosecutor who forced Kwame Kilpatrick out of the Detroit mayor’s office said he violated his probation by missing a Friday deadline to make a $79,011 payment toward his $1 million restitution to the city.

Kilpatrick could face jail or prison as a consequence. His lawyers had warned he couldn’t afford the payment: Money orders worth only $14,048 were dropped off at the Wayne County Circuit Court bond office on his behalf.

“We expect that a violation-of-probation warrant will issue,” Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said in a statement. “When that comes we will be prepared to attend any hearings.” Her office said the warrant could come in the “near future.”

Kilpatrick, who now lives and works in the Dallas area, could be sent to jail if a judge finds he violated his probation in a criminal case that ended his political career.

He must pay $1 million to Detroit after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice in a civil trial. This latest legal mess centers on an order to make special payments — $79,011 this week and $240,000 in April — after a judge said Kilpatrick was dishonest about his finances.

The Michigan Court of Appeals refused to immediately block those payments Friday but said it will consider hearing the case after reading a transcript of a Jan. 20 hearing in Wayne County Circuit Court.

Messages seeking comment were left with Kilpatrick’s lawyers. One of them, Michael Alan Schwartz, told WJBK-TV that the “city will be a big loser” if the ex-mayor is sent to jail.

“Who’s going to gain out of this?” Schwartz said.

Kilpatrick is a salesman for Covisint and has been making monthly restitution payments of $3,000. But prosecutors learned he and his wife have had other money, including $240,000 in loans, live in a rented mansion and drive fancy SUVs in Texas.

In 2008, Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and no contest to assault in a plea deal that rose from a text-messaging sex scandal and perjured testimony at a 2007 trial involving police officers.

He resigned after nearly seven years as mayor, served 99 days in jail and agreed to restitution.