http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2014/09/ken_daniels_former_detroit_pol.html

politician got convicted also



DETROIT, MI -- Ken Daniels, 56, of Detroit, once served his community as a state representative. He's now headed to federal prison for a year after federal prosecutors say he helped a drug dealer conceal illegal proceeds.

A jury in May convicted Daniels, who was on trial with co-defendants Carlos Powell, the alleged leader of the drug ring, Eric Powell and Earnest Proge Jr., of structuring financial transactions.

"Evidence presented at trial showed that Daniels, who had served as the Vice Chairman of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee while a member of Michigan’s State Legislature, supported Powell’s large-scale drug operation by making multiple financial transactions to conceal Powell’s illegal activities from law enforcement," U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade's office said in a statement Thursday. "Daniels received $19,000 from Carlos Powell, broke those funds into two smaller amounts, and went to two separate banks to obtain cashier checks in an attempt to evade legal requirements to report transactions exceeding $10,000.

"Daniels returned the checks to Powell, who used the funds to purchase a Mercedes."

The Carlos Powell-led drug ring has been called one of the largest ever busted in Detroit.

When he was arrested in 2012, law enforcers seized more than $21 million in cash, 66 pounds of heroin, 12 kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana.

Carlos Powell, his brother Eric Powell and Earnest Proge all fled prior to their May 12 court date at which they were to be convicted.

U.S. Marshals caught the brothers weeks later, Carlos Powell near Atlanta, where officials said he had nearly $750,000 in cash and a firearm, and Eric Powell in Missouri.

Proge was nabbed in St. Louis.

According to MichiganVotes.org, Daniels, a Democrat, served as a state representative from 1999 to 2004.

In addition to positions on the Detroit Board of Education and as a Detroit Water Department commissioner, he ran a failed state senate bid in 2010.