Kwame Kilpatrick moves into larger, $372K home in Texas

Ex-mayor pleads poverty from 5,000-square-foot home

Robert Snell/ The Detroit News

Detroit— Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has moved into a $372,000 home that is larger and more expensive than his last rental while claiming poverty to qualify for taxpayer-funded lawyers and low restitution payments.
The 5,000-square-foot home in Grand Prairie, Texas, renews concerns that Kilpatrick is living above his means while making small restitution payments to the city and forcing taxpayers to fund his legal defense against federal racketeering charges. The new home is 1,000 square feet larger than the Manoogian Mansion, where Kilpatrick lived as mayor.
Kilpatrick's living arrangements surfaced days ahead of a hearing Wednesday to determine why proceeds from the sale of the former mayor's book have not been forwarded to an escrow account. The account was established to capture money that could be used toward the more than $860,000 in restitution Kilpatrick owes Detroit.
"We will be looking into this," Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Maria Miller said Friday. "He still has an obligation to thecity of Detroit for restitution. Where's the money coming from?"
It is unclear when Kilpatrick, 41, moved in and how much he is paying monthly on a home that, according to one real estate website, would rent for approximately $2,900 a month.
Lawyer Daniel Hajji, who represents Kilpatrick on text message-related charges, did not know about any arrangements Kilpatrick has made to live in the home.
"It sounds like he's renting," Hajji said. "We don't know what the lease terms are. Maybe it's a lease with an option to buy so the rent payments are low now. Maybe somebody else is paying the rent — a relative."
Kilpatrick's living arrangements do not warrant the prosecutor's attention, he added.
The 5,016-square-foot home in the Mira Lagos planned community features five bedrooms, four bathrooms and an attached two-car garage.
Built in 2006, the home includes what a real estate listing described as a "huge" kitchen with granite countertops, vaulted ceilings in the hall and family room, French doors leading to a landscaped yard, a large master suite and study. It also features a game room and media room.
The home was purchased originally for $371,900 and is appraised at $338,400.
It was recently listed at $309,950.
Property records show the home is owned by Texas entrepreneur Glen Goody, who owns a residential cleaning franchise in Grand Prairie, which is south of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Goody did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Kilpatrick must receive permission from Texas parole officials before changing addresses, said Michigan Department of Corrections spokesman Russ Marlan.
"I was not aware that he's moved, but that's not necessarily anything he'd have to report to us," Marlan said.
An official with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice could not be reached Friday for comment.
The home is at least the third property Kilpatrick has lived in since relocating to Texas almost three years ago.
In 2009, Kilpatrick, his wife and three sons were living in a $1 million mansion in Southlake, Texas, a community Forbes magazine called the most affluent in the U.S. The family paid $74,000 in advance to lease the 5,886-square-foot home for 13 months.
Last year, the family moved 30 miles south to a $235,000, four-bedroom, three-bath, home in Grand Prairie.
The 3,500-square-foot home rented for $2,100 a month.
The newest home is less than a mile away and larger by about 1,500 square feet.
One neighborhood resident, contacted Friday by The News, reported seeing the first signs of life outside the home since it was listed for sale earlier this year.
Three cars were parked in the driveway, including a silver Chevrolet sport utility vehicle with chrome rims, said Eric Garner, who lives across the street and said he hadn't met the Kilpatricks.
Grand Prairie is a community of about 175,000, where the biggest employers are aircraft and missile making plants. The median household income is almost $51,000, and the median value of homes is $119,600.
In 2008, Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, resigned as mayor and promised the city restitution in a deal that avoided trial on multiple charges, including lying under oath during the text message scandal.
He went to prison in May 2010 for failing to make payments based on a finding that Kilpatrick hid or squandered hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Kilpatrick recently struck a more flexible payment plan with Texas parole officials. Kilpatrick must pay $160 per month for the more than $860,000 he owes toward $1 million in restitution.
Under his current plan, it would take Kilpatrick 448 years to satisfy the restitution.
"If (the new home) indicates he has increased income, it should impact his restitution," said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University and former federal prosecutor.
Kilpatrick, who was released from a Michigan prison in August, has claimed indigence and received a publicly funded team of private defense lawyers for his upcoming racketeering trial in Detroit.
Upon reporting to Texas, he told authorities there he is making $60,000 a year.
rsnell@detnews.com
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