Former Taylor Mayor Rick Sollars wants to serve prison sentence in house built with bribes – The News Herald

By Robert Snell

The Detroit News

Former Taylor Mayor Rick Sollars is seeking to serve a prison sentence imposed in federal court for corruption in his $369,000 home, where a corrupt city contractor installed new hardwood floors, a garage door, stainless steel appliances, a washer and dryer, a new front door and more.

The request comes as Sollars tries to avoid a prison sentence next month for orchestrating one of the biggest public corruption scandals of the past decade in metro Detroit. Sollars and three others – including his top aide, former Taylor Community Development Manager Jeffrey Baum – have been convicted of crimes and face possible prison time.

Sollars, 50, is expected to serve 14 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing funds from his re-election campaign and accepting cash, renovations and other bribes from building contractor Shady Awad. In total, the court found that Sollars stole more than $70,000 from his campaign and accepted $84,538 in bribes to help Awad purchase foreclosed homes in the city.

Sollars should be spared prison time and serve any sentence in his 2,500-square-foot home because he made a positive impact on the Downriver community during his long career as a city councilman and mayor, his lawyers argued. Plus, his children need the disgraced politician as they navigate their adolescence and adulthood, they added.

“He would ask this court to consider the sick, elderly and downtrodden citizens of the city who see Mr. Sollars as a beacon of hope, kindness and positivity,” defense attorney Vincent Haisha wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

Sollars was scheduled to be sentenced on Wednesday, but late Tuesday the sentencing was inexplicably postponed until October 22.

If a prison sentence is necessary, Haisha said, a two-year sentence would be sufficient because Sollars has suffered “immensely.” Sollars has lost his political career, has not had a meaningful job in recent years and the criminal proceedings have damaged him financially, the lawyer wrote.

“How much punishment must an individual suffer to pay off his debt to society?” wrote Haisha.

According to the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the average prison sentence for bribery/corruption convictions in the Eastern District of Michigan, which includes Detroit, is 12 months between 2015 and 2023.

Prosecutors are asking U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith to send the corrupt politician to prison for nearly six years. Sollars, who served as mayor of the riverside community from 2013 to 2021, deserves a 71-month sentence for destroying public faith in democracy, according to the government.

“The citizens who elected Sollars wanted a mayor who would work to improve their lives,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frances Carlson and Robert Moran. “Instead, Sollars chose to improve his own life by corruptly abusing his power as a government official to improve his own lifestyle.”

Sollars' political reputation waned in the wake of the scandal. He was forced to launch an unsuccessful campaign for re-election in 2021 for failing to declare his campaign finances or pay fines.

The verdict is the latest development in a years-long federal crackdown on public corruption in the Detroit metropolitan area. In recent years, more than 130 politicians, union leaders, bureaucrats, police officers and school officials have been charged as a result of the indictment.

Awad's sentencing is scheduled for October 21. Prosecutors want him to spend up to 19 months in a federal prison, but his lawyers are pushing for probation.

Awad, 44, pleaded guilty in 2021, admitting to bribing Sollars with more than $53,000 in cash, appliances, home improvement supplies and gambling money during a trip to Las Vegas. Two other people have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing: Baum and Hadir Altoon, a party store owner and developer who is accused of letting Sollars cash campaign checks at his store in exchange for money and scratch-off tickets.

The criminal proceedings were delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and a dispute over the amount of illegal benefits the Downriver politician received.

That legal battle appears to have backfired. The judge held a series of hearings this spring that could have shortened Sollars' stay in federal prison. Instead, testimony portrayed Sollars as a demanding bully who developed a creeping sense of entitlement as the number of illegal benefits grew and grew.

The judge later found that Sollars received $84,538 in cash and gifts and stole more than $70,000 from the campaign.

Sollars pleaded guilty and avoided a rare trial on public corruption charges in federal court after being charged with a 33-count indictment. The guilty plea includes misconduct related to the sale of city-owned foreclosures and a scheme to defraud donors to a campaign committee for Sollars. Sollars admitted to receiving valuable items from Awad between July 2016 and February 2019, including home improvements and renovations for his home, office and vacation home.

The former mayor also admitted to participating in a 2018 fraud scheme against his political campaign donors. He admitted to cashing $5,600 in campaign checks at Dominick's Market and keeping some of the money while claiming the money was used for campaign expenses.

The full extent of the bribery came to light in March during a four-day evidentiary hearing. The hearing featured testimony from Awad and the corrupt mayor's wife, Alicia Sollars. A list of bribes was revealed, including:

• Hardwood floors in basement: $8,166

• Freshly painted: $7,226

• A new front door: $6,000

• A new refrigerator, oven, microwave and dishwasher: $5,300

“And you didn’t pay for these devices?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Frances Carlson asked Sollars’ wife.

“No,” she said.

• A custom garage locker system: $4,550

• A new camera: $4,044

“And can you tell us how this happened?” asked prosecutor Awad.

“(Sollars) was there with his son … and they drove to my office and he said his credit card only went up to $2,500 and asked if I could pay for the camera,” Awad testified.

“Did he tell you what the camera was for?” asked the prosecutor.

“It was for Alicia, his wife,” Awad testified.

• Garage door: $3,845

• Washer and dryer: $3,679

• Hardwood floors upstairs: $2,750

• Hardwood floors, ground floor: $2,500

• A sliding door with additional fly screen: $1,898

• A humidor: $1,804

At some point, Sollars asked if the humidor was filled with Cuban cigars, the criminal complaint states.

“As soon as I break even,” Awad wrote in a text message, “we’re going to Cuba.”

• Metal tool cabinets: $1,243

• Vacuum cleaner: $635

Further bribes were paid for improvements to the mayor's house in Cement City.

• Hardwood floors: $8,800

• Deck renovation: $2,900

During the conspiracy, Awad attempted to cover up the bribes by claiming that the appliances, flooring and other freebies were installed in homes he was renovating as part of the city's housing program.

Awad said he tried to hide the wooden floors from Sollars by claiming they were installed in the basement of another building.

“Does it have a basement?” asked prosecutor Awad.

“No,” said Awad.

At one point, vehicles bearing Awad's company logos were parked in front of the mayor's house so frequently, where bribes were delivered and free home improvement projects were overseen, that Sollars ordered the contractor to remove the company logo from the trucks and employees' uniforms, Awad testified.

“He just said it would be a bad image if someone from the city saw us providing our services … and we could just take down our signs and his shirts,” Awad testified.

“You just can’t upset Rick, otherwise there will be consequences…” said Awad.

On Friday, Sollars' legal team said the renovations, cash and other perks were gifts and not bribes.

“Mr. Awad had already been awarded the 95 properties in question before he even gave anything of value to Mr. Sollars,” the defense attorney wrote.

However, prosecutors said Sollars tried to “represent the facts” to conform to recent changes in federal bribery law.

“The inconsistency of Sollars' new claims shows that his arguments ring hollow,” prosecutors wrote.