Plymouth Township officials role in federal investigation
September 18, 2012 PLYMOUTH VOICE.
Corruption and bribery being investigated by FBI
DATA CENTER BUILT IN PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP
Were Reaume and Edwards truly complacent when they endorsed Secure-24, a Plymouth Township business, or were they complicit in a slick plan with Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano?
Three years ago, Ficano put together a deal with the data-backup business along with the blessing of Plymouth Township Supervisor, Richard Reaume and Treasurer, Ron Edwards, accompanied by Wayne County Commissioner Laura Cox and Joan Gebhardt.
According to a Detroit News article regarding a federal investigation, several former county officials involved have been charged with crimes or are under investigation, and a February search warrant alleged Secure-24 “is involved in corruption in Wayne County government.”
Former Deputy Executive Azzam Elder and former Economic Development director Turkia Mullin were also instrumental in the deal and are under investigation by the FBI, according to subpoenas and search warrants, also reported today by the *Detroit News.
Michigan Business Review, February, 2009:
“It’s not a great number of jobs, but they’re the right kind of jobs, they’re the high-tech information jobs that Michigan needs”… Richard Reaume.
Hometown Life /Plymouth Observer, September, 2009:
Excerpt:
The country and Secure-24, which provides IT security products and systems, along with Plymouth Township and various governmental officials, cut the ribbon Tuesday on the $5 million, 18,000-square-foot Wayne County Technology Resource Center on Helm court in Plymouth Township. Among the guests were Plymouth Township Treasurer Ron Edwards and Wayne County Commissioners Laura Cox (R-Livonia), whos district includes Plymouth, and Joan Gebhardt (D-Livonia), whose district includes Westland and part of Livonia.
The facility was designed to “offer and deliver critical IT services” to all 43 communities in Wayne County, as well as “creating capacity for private business IT services,” according to Secure-24 vice president of sales Matt Wenzler. The center provides communities Information Technology infrastructure and disaster recovery services.
(*) Detroit News September 18, 2012 By: Joel Kurth
