Detroit seeks return of $10M paid to fed

DETROIT, July 28 (UPI) -- Detroit city officials say they are scrambling to determine if they can recoup millions of dollars paid to a federal monitor who has resigned.

City officials say Sheryl Robinson Wood was paid at least $10 million through 2006 to oversee Detroit police reforms, but now they want the money back after discovering she was meeting former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in other cities for reasons unrelated to a police department consent decree, The Detroit News reported Tuesday.

Text messages between Wood and Kilpatrick "showed contacts between the monitor and the former mayor that were inappropriate and also an exchange of information related to the litigation," said Saul Green, appointed by new Mayor Dave Bing to rekindle the police reform effort.

Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins, when asked how much of the $10 million paid to Wood the city wanted to recoup, said, "Every penny. I think they should both go to jail for this." Likening Kilpatrick to Superman's archenemy, Lex Luthor, Collins said, "He's a master criminal. His intent is devious."

Kilpatrick, who resigned last year and served jail time on corruption charges, has been linked along with his father to pay-to-play allegations at City Hall, the News said.