Guilty verdict for former Clinton Twp trustee Dean Reynolds in corruption trial

(WJBK) - It took a federal court jury less than 90 minutes to reach verdicts in the public corruption trial of former Clinton Township trustee Dean Reynolds.

Reynolds was just found guilty on all 14 counts of public corruption. Four of those charges were conspiracy bribery counts, the other 10 with bribery counts. He now faces 20 years or more in federal prison for taking bribes from contractors. 

Reynolds’ attorney Stephen Rabaut contended that the former elected official did not take bribes, he merely took loans from garbage hauling company executive Chuck Rizzo and towing contractor Gasper Fiore. Rabaut said all of the witnesses against Reynolds were thieves who could not be trusted.

Prosecutor Michael Bullotta said there were no records of the loans, and that the men who gave Reynolds thousands of dollars in return for his support of their efforts to gain lucrative public contracts were not friends. Bullotta said Reynolds betrayed the public, and urged the jury to convict him on all counts. 

FOX 2's M.L. Elrick will have full details about what happened today in court tonight on FOX 2 News at 5 and 6 p.m.