A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
4
November 17, 2016
N
ORTHVILLE
- P
LYMOUTH
County pension plan fraud case is appealed
Classified
Johnny Roberts
Johnny Stephan Roberts,
60,
of
Van
Buren
Township,, passed away
Monday, Oct. 31, 2016 at
his home. He was born
May 8, 1956 in Bronx, New
York, twin son of Jesse Lee
and
Rosa
Patricia
(Williams) Roberts.
Mr. Roberts graduated from
Lincoln High School, San
Francisco, CA. and attend-
ed Cogswell College, San
Francisco,
CA
and
Northeastern University,
Boston, MA. He received
Christ into his life in 1991
after his mother's death.
Alan and Anita discipled
John through his illness
and saw God work mightily
in his life.
After attending school, he
joined the Manpower
Group in the early 80s and
learned a unique skill set in
the Geotechnical (Soils)
Engineering field. He
worked for numerous firms
in the San Francisco Bay
Area as a Senior Soils
Technician. In the 90s, Mr.
Roberts relocated to
Belleville and joined his
sister, Anita, in business.
He was an auto enthusiast
owning two Cadillacs,
'Betsy' and 'Pearl', and they
were his pride and joy.
In spite of the many health
challenges Mr. Roberts
faced, he remained posi-
tive and became more
determined to survived and
thrive. He loved cooking
and wowed many with his
different meat and veg-
etable dishes. His love of
cooking was only sur-
passed by his love of peo-
ple. He sought out ways to
extend a helping hand to
those in need both in his
apartment, during his stays
at the hospital, and at his
local
dialysis
center,
Fresenius Kidney Care, in
Romulus, where he was
loved by staff and patients
alike. He especially loved
his church, Belleville Free
Will Baptist. He also
enjoyed
body-building,
playing guitar and loved to
read. He was very intelli-
gent, and astute in nearly
everything.
Mr. Roberts is survived by
his
loving
daughter
JoVanna (Daniel) Habjan of
Concord, CA; three grand-
children, Adarius, Jazmin
and Donavan; his older sis-
ter Anita (David) Roberts of
California; his twin brother
Alan (Roxanne) Roberts of
Brentwood, CA; his brother
Abraham (Barbara) Picou
of Ypsilanti; nine nieces
and nephews, Jaylani
(Ishmael) Cortez, Daniel,
James (Danielle), Rachel
and Joy, Jamal, Andre,
Iyanna and Tiara;great-
nieces and nephews
Malachi, Elijan and Zara;
cousins, Carmen, Martha,
Rita, Robin, Tony, Pat and
Vivian; close friends and
brothers at heart: O'Sean
Fields, Hans Solo Stopa,
Mellow Melvin Moore, of
Belleville, Shawn Barrett of
Fairfield, CA, Bobby Bailey
of Teaneck, NJ, and his
extended family of brothers
and sisters-in-law and
church in San Francisco.
He was preceded in death
by his parents. ad his
extended family of brothers
and sisters-in-law and
church in San Francisco.
He was preceded in death
by his parents.
Funeral services took place
Nov. 5 at Belleville Freewill
Baptist Church, 750 E.
Huron River Dr., Belleville,
with Pastor Jack Daniels
officiating.
In lieu of flowers, memorial
donations in Mr. Roberts'
name are encouraged to
the
National
Kidney
Foundation, 1169 Oak
Valley Dr., Ann Arbor, MI
48108.
Final arrangements were
entrusted to the David C.
Brown Funeral Home in
Belleville.
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Tickets are still available for
the annual Northville Community
Foundation Holiday Home Tour
which takes place from 10 a.m.
until 4 p.m. tomorrow, Nov. 18 and
Saturday, Nov. 19.
“Once again five beautiful
Northville homes have been
selected to be decorated top to
bottom for the holidays. The style
of each home is different and
there truly is something for every
taste. With homes ranging from a
quaint condo to a home designed
after a castle-- this year's tour has
got it all,” said Northville
Community
Foundation
Executive Director Jessica
Striegle.
“One outstanding home is just
loaded with unique features.
From the two square medieval
towers to the diamond and
stained glass windows to the two-
story great hall, this home is just
spectacular and one you will not
want tomiss,” she added.
Also a highlight of the tour, she
added, is a historic downtown
Northville home that ismore than
145 years old but has been recent-
ly renovated. The home has a
modern style while still retaining
some of the old Victorian charm,
Striegle said, “add the holiday
decorations and this home
becomes evenmore stunning.”
One of the homes features a
custom-painted kitchen while
another has Christmas trees in
almost every room and loads of
holidays decorations throughout.
Tickets are limited and the
tour does sell out each year,
Striegle said.
To purchase tickets tomorrow
or Saturday, visit Ward Church at
40000 SixMileRoad, 1/4milewest
of Haggerty Road. Ticketsmay be
purchased at the church from 9
a.m. to 2:30p.m.
Proceeds from the Holiday
Home Tour help fund the
Northville
Community
Foundation holiday gifts for sen-
ior citizens confined to assisted
living facilities, grants for non-
profits and community programs,
scholarships for students, coordi-
nating
the
Northville
Independence Day Parade, and
operations ofMayburyFarm.
The Northville Community
Foundation, is a 501(c)(3) nonprof-
it organization. For more infor-
mation, visit
-
munityfoundation.org.
In the 11 months since
Plymouth resident and former
Wayne County Airport Chief
Operating Officer Daniel Ogden
Kerber was arrested and charged
with retirement fraud he has lived
in fear that a contractual interpre-
tationmay put himinprison for 20
years.
Kerber, 66, was arrested Dec. 9
and originally faced felony
charges of larceny by false pre-
tenses, over $100,000 and larceny
by conversion, over $20,000. The
conversion charge was dropped
during a preliminary hearing in
February before 35th District
Court Judge Michael Gerou. The
false pretenses charge carries a
maximum penalty of 20 years in
prison.
Wayne County officials claim
Kerber had a severance agree-
ment that specified that his
defined-contribution assets of
$340,166, held by Prudential,
would be transferred to their
Wayne County Retirement
System. Kerber retired in
September 2009 and began receiv-
ing a monthly pension of
$11,337.48. At Kerber's request,
according to prosecutors,
Prudential deducted $62,736.61 in
taxes from his total retirement
savings and sent Kerber a check
for $277,431.40 on May 2, 2011.
Kerber continued to accept the
monthly pension payments after
making the withdrawal of his
401K funds and the retirement
system never notified him that it
believed he owed money or had
breached the agreement. The first
time Kerber was contacted about
the issuewas in July 2015whenhe
was told that his pension was
being terminated unilaterally
without an administrative hear-
ing.
Kerber pleaded not guilty at
his arraignment before 35th
District Court Judge Ronald Lowe
and was given a personal recogni-
zance bond and ordered to sur-
render his passport following his
arrest inDecember.
While vacationing at his
Florida home, Kerber received
the call that there was a warrant
for his arrest and immediately
returned to Plymouth to turn him-
self in to authorities, according to
his attorney Robert Mullen. After
numerous filings in the 35th
District and Wayne County Circuit
Courts, going before four judges,
two of whom recused themselves
to avoid a potential conflict of
interest, Kerber's case is now
headed to the State Court of
Appeals.
Mullen, a public defender, said
this is a case about a contract
interpretation and not about a
crime. Mullen adamantly states
the case defies traditional analysis
because it doesn't have the usual
criminal elements. “It's a civil
case,” he said. Mullen has cited
what he calls critical key issues in
his appeal of the charges and
claims the district court erred in
its interpretation of his client's
severance agreement. According
to Mullen's court filings, a dis-
agreement with the contract made
between Kerber and the Airport
Authority in 2009 and the Wayne
County Employees Retirement
System has turned into a criminal
prosecution in an attempt to
enforce alleged contractual obli-
gations.
“The prosecution's criminal
charge is based entirely on a duty
imposed by a contract, one that's
ambiguous, uses permissive lan-
guage and even the judge
remarked 'is not a very good con-
tract,' Mullen said.
At the time of Kerber's arrest,
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym
Worthy spoke out in an unusual
public indictment against him.
“This case is the ultimate
example of why theWayne County
Retirement system is not property
funded. The alleged facts in this
case will show that the defen-
dant's greed allowed him to net
hundreds of thousands of dollars
he was not entitled to, all while he
received over $11,000 amonth in a
pension fromthe county.”
Mullen is critical of Worthy's
actions.
Mullen said Wayne County offi-
cials had to approve the specific
contract clause that allowed him
to transfer his Plan 5 assets. He
said they had to know he had a
defined contribution account
“because they gave him the
money.”
“Isn't it odd that the Wayne
County Prosecutor is prosecuting
this case, are they really being
objective? The Wayne County
prosecutors are in the same
retirement system. This is a con-
flict of interest,”Mullen said.
The Airport Authority that
employed Kerber is a for-profit
entity, separate from Wayne
County. The Wayne County
Retirement System administrates
the pensionplans.
Mullen claims in court docu-
ments that at all times the funds
were the property of Kerber, held
in a 401K account that remained
in his name and no transfer of
ownership ever occurred. He
claims that the retirement system
knew about Kerber's severance
agreement. Regular statements
issued over the years showed
Kerber as the owner of the funds.
“How can you steal your own
money?”Mullen exclaimed.
Kerber believed that the funds
in his defined-contribution Plan 5
belonged to him. Mullen referenc-
ing this in his filings states that the
agreement language is permissive
and it will allow him to transfer
the funds, not that he shall or
must.
During the preliminary court
examination on the charges, Kelly
Tapper, the division director at
the Retirement System testified
that Kerber's severance agree-
ment was a Plan 5 hybrid plan
with two parts, a defined-contribu-
tion portion (401K) and a defined-
benefit portion (pension) and the
defined contribution portion of
the plan was administered by
Prudential.
Tapper repeatedly testified at
the preliminary examination that
although Kerber's severance
agreement allowed him to trans-
fer his Plan 5 assets into Plan 1,
doing so is impossible.
Mullen says the entire case
boils down to the meaning of one
paragraph in Kerber's severance
agreement, Paragraph 3, and one
word, “allow.”
“…The Authority agrees to
allow Employee to transfer his
Plan 5 defined contribution pen-
sion assets to Plan 1, and elect
Plan 1 as his retirement plan…”
Mullen argues that Kerber's
severance agreement includes no
mandatory language whatsoever,
is so poorly drafted as to be sus-
ceptible to various interpretations
of what he calls an ambiguous
clause in the contract. Mullen says
the case is not only a contractual
impossibility but a criminal
impossibility.
Mullen said that he andKerber
are looking forward to the State
Court of Appeals to schedule the
show cause hearing and dismiss
the case.
One outstanding home is just loaded
with unique features. From the two square
medieval towers to the diamond and stained glass
windows to the two-story great hall...
”
Tickets still available for Holiday Home Tour
Don Howard
Staff Writer
Plymouth upper level 1
BR, washer/dryer. All
utilities. No Smoking.
No Pets. 2 blocks from
downtown. $75 plus
deposit. (734) 451-
5961.
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