Inkster mayor indicted for accepting $50,000 in bribes
Inkster Mayor Patrick Wimberly
DETROIT (FOX 2) - The mayor of Inkster has been indicted on bribery charges after he accepted $50,000 in kickbacks for the sale of a parcel of land in the city.
Patrick Wimberly was named in a grand jury indictment out of the Eastern District of Michigan after he allegedly received bribes in $5,000 and $10,000 increments from someone interested in purchasing propety.
Wimberly told the individual, identified as Person A in the indictment, that he could control the vote of the Inkster City Council in how it sold properties. The land was identified as Parcel 1 in the indictment and had a value of more than $5,000.
Wimberly allegedly demanded a $100,000 bribe to secure the purchase of the property on Sept. 29. He had previously met with the buyer on Aug. 27 when the two first discussed the purchase. In the following month, the buyer agreed to paying $100,000 in payments by making monthly installments of $5,000 and $10,000.
Wimberly agreed the arrangement as long as the buyer came "in the front with something." The first bribe payment took place on Sept. 29.
Over the following months, the buyer would give Wimberly $45,000 more.
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At one point, Wimberly sent a coded message to the buyer, complainant the bribe payment was less than the agreed-to amount of $10,000: "[f]irst dinner date valet was 5$ each time … for the Uber right home" before it increased to "10$ a month" until they got to the "destination."
The final bribe was paid on April 4 when the buyer placed $10,000 in cash inside Wimberly's car's center console.