Ecorse ex-money manager gets prison for bribery

ECORSE (AP) -- The former financial chief in Ecorse has been sentenced to a year and a day in prison, the last step in a bribery investigation that snared a mayor. In the federal system, a 366-day sentence is the minimum to trigger time off for good behavior. Erwin "Earl" Hollenquest was found guilty of accepting a Lexus car but cleared of other charges. He and then-Ecorse Mayor Herbert Worthy were accused of taking payoffs to give the public works department to contractors. The scheme unraveled when one of the contractors cooperated with the FBI and made secret recordings. Worthy is serving an 18-month prison sentence. Sheldon Divers paid bribes and got a two-year sentence. Hollenquest was sentenced Monday by Detroit federal Judge Avern Cohn. Published: Wed, Sep 21, 2011