DETROIT (AP) - Ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s water department chief has received a sentence of eight months in a halfway house for his role in a wide-ranging corruption case.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds sentenced 62-year-old Victor Mercado on Wednesday, also giving him two years’ probation.
Mercado pleaded guilty to a single conspiracy charge in 2012 while on trial with Kilpatrick and others.
Before the sentencing, Mercado said he felt “horrible” and apologized to the judge and the city.
Mercado didn’t get any bribes. But he admits helping Kilpatrick pal Bobby Ferguson get excavation contracts worth millions of dollars.
Kilpatrick is serving a 28-year prison sentence.
Longtime Kilpatrick friend Derrick Miller faces sentencing May 29. Miller testified against the ex-mayor.
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