Detroit, Michigan - The former Director of the City of Detroit’s Office of Departmental Technology Services (DTS) was sentenced Tuesday to 20 months in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release, for accepting more than $29,500 in bribe payments from two information technology companies providing services and personnel to the City of Detroit.
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Special Agent in Charge Timothy R. Slater of the FBI’s Detroit Division made the announcement.
Charles L. Dodd, 48, of Canton, Michigan, previously pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan to one count of federal program bribery. U.S. District Judge Robert H. Cleland of the Eastern District of Michigan presided over the sentencing.
According to admissions made in connection with his plea, Dodd held numerous supervisory positions with the City of Detroit, culminating with his appointment as Director of DTS in 2014. In those positions, Dodd exercised supervisory authority over a staff of dozens of city employees and contractors, and held substantial influence over the administration of multi-million-dollar contracts between the City of Detroit and private information technology companies.
Dodd admitted that between 2009 and 2016, he accepted cash payments totaling more than $15,000 and a trip to North Carolina, among other things of value, from Parimal D. Mehta, 55, of Northville, Michigan, who was then the president and chief executive officer of an information technology company. During that same time period, Dodd also accepted more than $14,500 in cash payments from the chief executive officer and an employee of another information technology company. In return for these cash payments and other things of value, Dodd agreed to provide preferential treatment to the companies, he admitted.
This case was investigated by the FBI’s Detroit Division. Trial Attorneys Robert J. Heberle and James I. Pearce of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section prosecuted the case.
