DETROIT -Jeffrey Baum, 49, of Allen Park, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for conspiring to accept bribes while he was the Community Development Manager for the City of Taylor, announced United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison.

Ison was joined in the announcement by Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In 2015, the City of Taylor created the Right of First Refusal program (ROFR). Under this program, each year the City acquired tax-delinquent homes and selected developers to rehabilitate and eventually purchase the properties. Baum was the manager of Taylor's Community Development Department and was responsible for overseeing the ROFR program. During this time, Baum introduced Shady Awad, a real estate developer interested in acquiring ROFR properties to develop, to then-Mayor Richard Sollars. While Awad was a contractor with the City and Baum was supervising the program, Baum solicited and accepted bribes, including cash from Awad on behalf of himself and Sollars. Baum also accepted bribes from Hadir Altoon, the owner of Dominick's Market, who was also interested in obtaining ROFR properties. Baum routinely received food and holiday gifts, including cash, from Altoon. Without the knowledge or consent of the City Council and at Sollars's direction, Baum facilitated the transfer of nine ROFR properties to Altoon.

In addition to being the Community Development Manager, Baum was also the treasurer of Sollars's campaign fund. As treasurer, Baum was aware that Sollars stole tens of thousands of dollars from the fund. Baum assisted Sollars by giving him pre-signed, blank campaign checks that Sollars used in a fake catering scheme with Altoon. Sollars then made those checks payable to Dominick's Market in various amounts, each purporting to represent payment for catering services provided to the campaign. At Sollars's direction, Altoon prepared false invoices for catering services that were not actually provided. Instead, Altoon provided Sollars with some or all of the proceeds from the cashed fraudulent checks for Sollars's personal use. Following an evidentiary hearing, the Court found that Sollars received $70,362.98 from this, and other wire fraud schemes related to his campaign account. Baum also accepted large cash campaign donations and gave them to Sollars instead of depositing them into the fund's bank account. Baum further admitted to stealing between $10,000 and $20,000 from the fund for his personal use.

"As the Manager of Community Development for the City of Taylor, Baum had a duty to represent the best interests of the citizens of Taylor. Instead, he used his position of trust and authority to extort money and other items of value from the contractors he was hired to supervise. Mr. Baum's conviction and sentence should send a strong message to public employees that placing your own interests above those of the citizens of this district will not be tolerated," stated U.S. Attorney Ison.

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frances Carlson and Robert Moran.