Ex-Fire Chief Gets Prison For Bribery
PONTIAC (WWJ/AP) - The former fire chief in Pontiac has been sentenced to six months in prison for taking a bribe to ignore violations at a bar.
Jeffrey Hawkins, 48, was sentenced Thursday in Oakland County court. He was convicted in April of one count of accepting a bribe as a public officer while the jury deadlocked on another.
According to court documents, Hawkins solicited a $1,000 bribe in exchange for not citing Little David's Island Bar for building fire code violations and other city code violations that existed at the time. He subsequently accepted a $500 cash payment from an undercover FBI investigator in April 2010, according to investigators.
Hawkins retired in 2010 after 22 years with the fire department, including 11 as chief.
Joy Yearout, spokeswoman for Attorney General Bill Schuette, says the public deserves "100 percent integrity" from public officials.
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