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| LeRoy Burcroff |
Burcroff, 58, is accused of using campaign donations to fund his daughter's wedding. Prosecutors allege that he wired a payment of $2,400 to the Belleville Yacht Club in November of 2017 from a checking account owned by the “Committee to Elect LeRoy D. Burcroff.” Deposits into the account were contributions from individuals toward the effort to have Burcroff reelected, prosecutors alleged in the formal court filings.
“In truth and in fact, however, Burcroff used more than $15,000 of the money contributed to his campaign account for his own personal benefit instead of to benefit the campaign,” the criminal case reads.
In addition to the $2,400 payment, prosecutors claim that Burcroff made payments to his children, his brother and his son-in-law from the campaign account. None of those payments, however, appear in the charges filed Friday.
William Wadsworth, the longest serving member of the Romulus City Council, said he was saddened and disappointed by the charges.
“When he (Burcroff) took over the city in 2013, we were at a near all-time low. He did a lot of positive things here. He opened the parks back up, straightened out the city pensions, lowered health care costs,” Wadsworth said. “I've known him a long time, more than 50 years. I knew his family,” Wadsworth said. “He's my friend and this is a sad day for our city. I hope it all works out in the best way possible.”
Burcroff reportedly repaid at least part of the misused campaign funding, according to his former attorney Daniel J. Wholihan, who is no longer representing him.
Romulus City Council President John Barden said he was surprised by the allegations.
“I've known him for years and he is a good person. He was an honest mayor. I believe if he knew something was wrong, he wouldn't have participated. I knew him to always try to follow the law and I have never known him to be a person to attempt anything dishonest,” Barden said.
Burcroff's criminal attorney Wally Piszczatowski released the following statement:
“If you talk to people that know LeRoy and those folks that actually worked with him at the city, (as opposed to some of his political enemies), they will tell you that LeRoy always gave 100% of his best efforts to his hometown, the city of Romulus, even giving money back to the city when it was experiencing tough financial times. LeRoy has great love for his hometown and helped turn the city around, which before his tenure, was experiencing layoffs, furloughed employees and closed parks. In fact, LeRoy has given nearly a quarter century of dedicated and honorable service to the city - a fact which no one that truly knows him will dispute.”
Burcroff was reelected as mayor in 2017 but opted not to seek reelection last November and was succeeded by former Director of Economic Development and Public Service Robert McCraight.
The charges are punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.
