See my report, “Detroit’s Gangster Mayor Reportedly to Accept Plea Today: Kilpatrick Era Over … for Now.”
Mr. Kilpatrick’s Neighborhoods [Courtesy of the Detroit News]
Kwame Kilpatrick has lived in three Texas homes since resigning as mayor in 2008. Here’s a look at each home:
When: 2009-2010
Where: Southlake
Value: $1 million
Size: 5,886 square feet
Lease: $74,000 for 13-months
When: 2010-2011
Where: Grand Prairie
Value: $235,000
Size: 3,500 square feet
Rent: Estimated $2,100 a month
When: Summer/fall 2011
Where: Grand Prairie
Value: $338,400
Size: 5,016 square feet
Rent: Estimated $2,900 a month
Kwame Kilpatrick moves into larger, $372K home in Texas
Last Updated: November 13. 2011 4:47 p.m.
By Robert Snell
The Detroit News
Detroit— Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has moved into a $372,000 home that is larger and more expensive than his last rental while claiming poverty to qualify for taxpayer-funded lawyers and low restitution payments.
The 5,000-square-foot home in Grand Prairie, Texas, renews concerns that Kilpatrick is living above his means while making small restitution payments to the city and forcing taxpayers to fund his legal defense against federal racketeering charges.
Kilpatrick's living arrangements surfaced days ahead of a hearing Wednesday to determine why proceeds from the sale of the former mayor's book have not been forwarded to an escrow account. The account was established to capture money that could be used toward the more than $860,000 in restitution Kilpatrick owes Detroit.
"We will be looking into this," Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Maria Miller said Friday. "He still has an obligation to thecity of Detroit for restitution. Where's the money coming from?"
It is unclear when Kilpatrick, 41, moved in and how much he is paying monthly on a home that, according to one real estate website, would rent for approximately $2,900 a month. [N.S.: That would total $34,800 per year, or about 80 percent of his alleged net earnings.]
Lawyer Daniel Hajji, who represented Kilpatrick on text message-related charges, did not know about any arrangements Kilpatrick has made to live in the home.
"It sounds like he's renting," Hajji said. "We don't know what the lease terms are. Maybe it's a lease with an option to buy so the rent payments are low now. Maybe somebody else is paying the rent — a relative."
[If someone else is paying for the home, relative or no, it still counts as income for Kilpatrick, and is federally taxable as such. Federal tax laws decree that anyone making a "gift" of over $10,000 to someone must declare it, regardless of whether the benefactor is related to the beneficiary. Otherwise, the beneficiary is guilty of tax evasion. Kwame Kilpatrick, guilty of tax evasion? Perish the thought!]
Kilpatrick's living arrangements do not warrant the prosecutor's attention, he added. [Says the shyster!]
The 5,016-square-foot home in the Mira Lagos planned community features five bedrooms, four bathrooms and an attached two-car garage.
Built in 2006, the home includes what a real-estate listing described as a "huge" kitchen with granite countertops, vaulted ceilings in the hall and family room, French doors leading to a landscaped yard, a large master suite and study. It also features a game room and media room.
The home was purchased originally for $371,900 and is appraised at $338,400.
It was recently listed at $309,950.
Property records show the home is owned by Texas entrepreneur Glen Goody, who owns a residential cleaning franchise in Grand Prairie, which is south of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Goody did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Kilpatrick must receive permission from Texas parole officials before changing addresses, said Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan.
"I was not aware that he's moved, but that's not necessarily anything he'd have to report to us," Marlan said.
[Either reporter Robert Snell misquoted Russ Marlan in either of the preceding paragraphs, or Marlan has an ambidextrous mouth.]
An official with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice could not be reached Friday for comment.
The home is at least the third property Kilpatrick has lived in since relocating to Texas almost three years ago.
In 2009, Kilpatrick, his wife and three sons were living in a $1 million mansion in Southlake, Texas, a small community Forbes Magazine described as the most affluent in the nation. The family paid $74,000 in advance to lease the 5,886-square-foot home for 13 months.
Last year, the family moved 30 miles south to a $235,000, four-bedroom, three-bath home in Grand Prairie.
The 3,500-square-foot home rented for $2,100 a month.
The newest home is less than a mile away and larger by about 1,500 square feet.
One neighborhood resident, contacted Friday by The News, reported seeing the first signs of life outside the home since it was listed for sale earlier this year.
Three cars were parked in the driveway, including a silver Chevrolet sport utility vehicle with chrome rims, said Eric Garner, who lives across the street and admitted he hadn't met the Kilpatricks.
Grand Prairie is a community of about 175,000, where the biggest employers are aircraft and missile-making plants. The median household income is almost $51,000 and the median value of homes is $119,600.
In 2008, Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, resigned as mayor, and promised the city restitution in a plea deal that avoided trial on multiple charges, including lying under oath during the text-message scandal.
He went to prison in May 2010 for failing to make payments based on a finding that Kilpatrick hid or squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Kilpatrick recently struck a more flexible payment plan with Texas parole officials.
Kilpatrick must pay $160 per month for the more than $860,000 he owes toward $1 million in restitution.
Under his current plan, it would take Kilpatrick 448 years to satisfy the restitution.
"If (the new home) indicates he has increased income, it should impact his restitution," said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University and former federal prosecutor.
Kilpatrick, who was released from a Michigan prison in August, has claimed indigence and received a publicly funded team of private defense lawyers for his upcoming racketeering trial in Detroit.
Upon reporting to Texas, he told authorities there he is making $60,000 a year.
[Doing what? Inquiring minds want to know!]
rsnell@detnews.com
(313) 222-2028
[Thanks to reader-researcher RC for this one.]
Years ago, I pointed out to a liberal college professor of my acquaintance what happens to cities that fall under black rule. I used Detroit as the example. He would have none of it. "White-run cities are corrupt," the liberal professor said.
ReplyDeleteDavid In TN
Black racists talk the same way. Point out black crime rates to them, and they say, “White people commit crime too… What about [a terrible crime committed by a white person, as if one horrific crime by a white cancelled out 1,000,000 horrific crimes committed by blacks]… There are criminals in all groups.”
ReplyDeleteAll groups have criminals, but all groups do not have the same percentage of criminals, or the same frequency of crime. Likewise, while it is true that "White-run cities are corrupt," the best black-run city is an order of magnitude more corrupt than the worst white-run city.
When I told this same professor about the Knoxville Horror, would you like to guess what he said? This liberal asked me, "Have you ever seen Deliverance?" Now I had just told him about the most horrific crime in memory in Tennessee and he equated it with a fictional film.
ReplyDeleteThe professor then said "99% of murder is by people who know each other. Black crime is almost always against other blacks. Crime rates are lower than ever." He didn't sympathize with the killers but doesn't think the KH is something that happens often.
By his own admission, he doesn't follow the crime news.
David In TN