Contractor pleads guilty to bribing ex-school board leader
A former maintenance contractor for Madison District Public Schools pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday to bribing and conspiring with a former Board of Education president to get work contracts in the district.
The bribes from suspect John David, 65, to former school board president Albert Morrison, 61, totaled more than $561,000 from 2014-18 in what federal officials called a “pay to play scheme.”
U.S. Attorney Dawn N. Ison in a statement announced David’s guilty plea to conspiracy and bribery involving federal funds.
David was a longtime friend of Morrison and one of the owners of Emergency Restoration, a maintenance and reconstruction company.
The company got more than $3.1 million in contracts for maintenance and construction projects in the school district in Madison Heights.
In return, David wrote checks from the company to Morrison for more than $500,000.
The bribes were paid to Morrison’s company, Comfort Consulting, according to court records.
Authorities said Morrison took the checks and deposited them in his personal checking account.
Morrison is accused of using the money from David to pay for a boat slip and luxuries, including Florida vacations.
At one point during a school board meeting in 2017, Morrison denied he had any ties to David’s company when he was asked by a fellow board member why he approved so many no-bid maintenance and construction work contracts for the school district to David’s company. Morrison also denied having any financial ties to the company.
In July 2022, a federal grand jury indicted Morrison and David on bribery and conspiracy charges.
Morrison had been charged three months earlier with multiple counts of income tax evasion and failing to file federal tax returns related to the bribes.
“Morrison and David also failed to disclose to State of Michigan auditors the payments Morrison received from David,” according to a statement released Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the U.S. District Court in Detroit.
David is scheduled to be sentenced at 1 p.m. Aug. 14.
“Our community de
serves school systems free of corruption,” U.S. Attorney Ison said in a statement. “This prosecution demonstrates our commitment to ensure that public officials in our educational system put the interests of our children first.”
The investigation of the case was done by the FBI, IRS and the Department of Education.
“Mr. David guaranteed he would receive work funded by Madison District Public Schools,” said James A. Tarasca, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, “not by participating in a fair and transparent process, but by bribing those in positions of power.”