Baum, Haidir get vastly different sentences in Taylor public corruption case
The last two defendants in a Taylor public corruption scheme involving bribes, a crooked mayor and perverted housing deals were sentenced this week — only one of them is going behind bars for a while, while the other is not.
Taylor's former Community Development Manager Jeffrey Baum, 49, of Allen Park, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for his role in helping two businessmen secure contracts to rehabilitate tax-delinquent homes in Taylor in exchange for bribes of all sorts: cash, food, holiday gifts, scratch-off lottery tickets and home renovations for the city's then-mayor.
Baum also helped former Taylor Mayor Richard Sollars steal from his own re-election campaign fund, and admitted to stealing between $10,000-$20,000 from that same fund for himself. Baum, who was Sollars' campaign treasurer, pulled this off with the help of a businessman he was taking bribes from.
That bribe payor, though, got a significantly lighter punishment than Baum.
Real estate developer Haidir Altoon, 52, of Farmington Hills, was sentenced to one day in prison Tuesday, followed by two years of supervised release — with the first six months under house arrest. He also was fined $10,000 and ordered to serve 100 hours of community service for his role in a public corruption scheme that involved him paying bribes to Baum and former Taylor Mayor Richard Sollars.
Sollars, who was indicted five years ago for his role in the scheme, pleaded guilty to theft and bribery and was sentenced to nearly six years in prison last month .
According to federal prosecutors, Altoon, who also owns Dominicks Market, gave Sollars more than $70,000 in cash bribes, scratch-off lottery tickets and other items in exchange for his help with securing housing deals. The scheme involved the City of Taylor's Right of First Refusal program, under which the city acquired tax-foreclosed properties from Wayne County and selected developers to rehabilitate and eventually purchase the properties.
Prosecutors say Altoon, who had met Sollars in his market, expressed an interest in acquiring houses under that program. Sollars agreed to help, though it came with a hitch: He asked Altoon to help cash fraudulent checks for him from his re-election campaign fund.
This was all part of Sollars' plan to steal from his re-election campaign. Here's how it worked:
Sollars directed Baum to provide him with signed blank checks from his campaign account. Sollars would then make those checks payable to Dominick's Market in various amounts, pretending they were for catering services for the campaign. Altoon, the market owner, then prepared fake invoices for the supposed catering services, cashed the checks and gave Sollars the money.
It was a lucrative scheme, prosecutors said: Sollars made more than $70,000 by stealing from his campaign account and admitted to it.
Altoon, though, wasn't the only one being shaken down.
Sollars also took bribes from a real estate developer named Shady Awad, who showered the mayor with perks galore: new hardwood floors for the politician's two homes, a deck for his lake house, a $1,600 cigar humidor, cash and stainless steel appliances. In exchange, Awad was awarded numerous tax-foreclosed properties that needed to be rehabbed in Taylor.
Awad, 44, also of Allen Park, who also was charged in the scheme, pleaded guilty to his role and was sentenced last month to one year and a day in prison for giving $85,000 in bribes to then-Mayor Sollars.
Baum, also of Allen Park, also previously pleaded guilty to his role, admitting he helped Sollars steal money from his campaign by giving him blank checks. His sentence this week marked the end of a 5-year-old case that sought to punish the bribe taker and the bribe giver.
"This case should send a message to anyone who seeks to do business with local municipalities that giving into the corrupt demands of public officials does not pay," U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison said in announcing Baum's sentence. "My office will aggressively prosecute and hold accountable both the bribe payer, as well as the bribe receiver, since any exchange of bribes deny the citizens of this district the honest services they expect and deserve."
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