It's off to prison for Timothy Cromer, a former Detroit Public Library official who pleaded guilty to taking $1.4 million in bribes and kickbacks from library contractors.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge George Caram Steeha in Detroit sentenced the library's ex-chief administrative and technology officer to 10 years in prison.
“As a government official, Mr. Cromer abused his position of trust and stole from the community,” Paul M. Abbate, head of the Detroit FBI, said in a statement. “Today’s sentencing reflects the resolve of law enforcement to continue the fight on behalf of our citizens, and bring those who violate their public oath to justice.”
A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit, stated:
According to the indictment, Cromer helped co-defendant James Henley create a business in 2007 called Core Consulting & Professional Services, and then arranged for Core to win a bid to provide information technology services to the library. The contract, along with various change orders and extensions that Cromer approved, caused the library to pay Core $1.8 million.
Cromer was also charged with receiving kickbacks from Ricardo Hearn, who is also charged in the indictment. Cromer was charged with approving no-bid professional services contracts for Hearn’s company, Cubemation, LLC, to perform information technology services for the library from 2008 until 2010. According to the indictment, Cubemation received about $2.8 million in payments from the Detroit Public Library. In total, Cromer is alleged to have accepted more than $1.4 million in kickbacks from Henley and Hearn.
-- Allan Lengel
