DETROIT (WXYZ) — Days after a 7 Action News investigation revealed how the Wayne County Sheriff accepted gifts from a man seeking a badge, Raphael Washington fended off an ethics complaint over a request for cash donations to his mother.
At issue at the Wednesday meeting of the county’s ethics board was a Facebook post Washington made last October, asking for donations to his mother who was celebrating her 86th birthday.
RELATED: Wayne County sheriff defends soliciting cash for mother's birthday
“If any of you would like to be a blessing to mom today, feel free to Cash App her,” Washington wrote, telling friends exactly where they could send her their money.
The post was shared with 7 Action News by law enforcement sources who saw it, thinking it may run afoul of the county’s ethics rules that prohibit elected officials from soliciting gifts for themselves or relatives.
When 7 Action News asked the sheriff’s office about the post, Washington deleted it and refused to say how much money—if any—had been donated.
Reggie Crawford, a former sheriff’s union leader who has often clashed with Washington over the years, filed a complaint with the ethics board late last year.
“It was there for the world to see, that solicitation,” Crawford said. “It was posted on Facebook.”
Philip Thomas, the chair of the ethics board, expressed some concern over the sheriff’s post, and said a formal hearing should be held to determine if he violated the county’s ethics ordinance.
“I’ve never seen this done before, it’s foreign to me,” Thomas said of the sheriff’s post. “I’ve never seen that done by an elected official. But that doesn’t make it bad.”
But the majority of board members weren’t bothered by the post, including the sheriff’s own appointee, Ketra Lewis.
“If he was trying to hide something, why would he post a Facebook post like that?” Lewis asked.
Said board member Frank Woods: “There was no intent, in my view, no intent to solicit anyone. It may have been incidental.”
Board member Demetrius Ford said the sheriff couldn’t have violated the ethics rules because of what he was wearing in his Facebook photo that accompanied the post.
"He had a blue suit on which is not his uniform,” Ford said, adding “In my opinion, there was no intent.
By a 3-1 vote, the board voted to dismiss the complaint. It marked a win for Washington, but may not the end of the questions over his conduct.
Last week, 7 Action News revealed how Washington accepted free merchandise from a man seeking an appointment to become a reserve deputy for the county.
RELATED: He wanted a badge from Wayne County’s Sheriff. Did gifts help him get it?
The man—who spoke on the condition that we not name him—provided texts showing he offered the sheriff free merchandise he could use to promote himself in the form of hundreds of mugs and phone chargers, and thousands of pens too. The merchandise, according to quotes, was valued in the thousands of dollars.
He said he threw in other gifts, too, like a $250 vacuum.
Washington gave him a badge last year, before taking it away months later after the reserve deputy had contacts with other police agencies that he failed to disclose.
The sheriff’s office said that the gifts were irrelevant to his appointment and that Washington certainly never used them.
But photos posted to social media, and recordings we obtained told another story.
“Yeah I need some mugs,” Washington said in a recorded phone call from July with the then-reserve deputy. “I’m having a fundraiser birthday party at the end of August. And I’m, I’m doing some VIP bags.”
Washington said he planned to use the mugs to reward donors to his campaign who contributed $500 or more.
The sheriff never disclosed the donated items in his campaign finance statements and on Monday—four days after Channel 7’s report—two of the sheriff’s security guards made a home delivery.
They were observed on Ring doorbell cameras returning what remained of those personalized mugs, phone chargers and pens, leavinv them at the former reserve deputy’s home.
Hundreds of items were missing, the former deputy says, and the vacuum cleaner was obviously used.
“There was hair all over it, it was used, there was dust all over it,” he said. “It was clearly used (and) missing pieces.”
Carron Pinkins, the former chair of the Wayne County Ethics Board, said that returning the items may be an attempt to mitigate future trouble for the sheriff.
“It sounds like he’s trying to cover what was already done,” Pinkins said.
“And after the story ran, he’s trying to backtrack and see if he can get sort of get out of this.”
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.
