Wednesday, October 11, 1995
By Eric Freedman
Detroit Journal Staff Writer
MASON -- A no-work consultant for the state House Fiscal Agency faces a year in jail and repayment of $77,000 after pleading no-contest to embezzling taxpayer funds.
Dwight Anderson, 50, of Okemos is to be sentenced Nov. 15 for his role in Michigan's worst legislative corruption scandal in a half-century. Appearing on Tuesday before Ingham County Circuit Judge Peter Houk, Anderson did not dispute accepting House Fiscal Agency checks that he hadn't earned.
A no-contest plea has the same legal effect as a guilty plea in a criminal case. Although Anderson faced up to 10 years in prison for embezzlement, a plea bargain will give him one year behind bars, followed by probation and an electronic tether.
The charges result from his receiving illegal payments from the agency's imprest-- petty cash -- checking account, controlled by then-Director John Morberg, who is serving a 6 1/2-year federal prison sentence. The two men are longtime friends, college fraternity brothers and business associates.
"Mr. Anderson did not work for the monies he received," Houk said. "The only reason he received this money was because he came to Mr. Morberg who gave him the money based on his financial needs. Mr. Anderson was aware he didn't work for this money."
Accompanied by lawyer Kenneth McIntyre, Anderson quietly answered Houk's questions, his hands clasped in front of him. He was not asked how the money was spent or whether any of it remains.
Houk is expected to order Anderson to repay about $77,000 in unauthorized checks received in 1992. In addition, Assistant Attorney General Suzan Sanford said the state plans to sue him for illegal payments he collected in prior years.
Morberg testified last year that Anderson was overwhelmed with debts and financial obligations, including losses and expenses from buying an Upper Peninsula landfill, overdue loans and a failed Paris banking deal.
The state court conviction is likely to avert additional federal charges against Anderson. One former fiscal agency official, former Associate Director Warren Gregory, is awaiting trial on federal charges.
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