Manoogian Mansion
Kwame Kilpatrick tried to spend $10,000 in charity cash buying furniture from the Manoogian Mansion when he resigned amid the text-message scandal in 2008, a witness testified Thursday.
Mary Fleming, a board member of the Manoogian Mansion Restoration Society, testified about the attempt as prosecutors tried to prove money from the Kilpatrick Civic Fund was misspent on the mayor’s personal expenses.
Fleming testified a $10,000 check was delivered by the mayor’s cousin, Nneka Cheeks in September 2008.
When Cheeks first delivered the check, Fleming rebuffed her, saying the Manoogian charity could not accept money from the Civic Fund.
“When I first received (the check), I was disappointed, it was supposed to be on a personal check,” Fleming testified.
Fleming called the mayor.
“He said, ‘Oh, sorry, it was the wrong check,’” Fleming testified.
Kilpatrick said he would send a personal check and that the $10,000 Civic Fund check would be donated to the Manoogian society.
Kilpatrick eventually purchased the furniture via a personal check.
Each outgoing mayor has the option of purchasing furniture inside the official mayoral residence, Fleming said.
Nneka Cheeks
Cheeks pleaded guilty on Sept. 23, 2011, to charges that she took almost $20,000 from a fund she ran to restore and maintain the city’s official mayoral residence.
Cheeks pleaded guilty to racketeering and embezzlement from the charity and was given five years of probation and ordered to repay about $34,000.