Detroit — John Clark, who got tangled up in this city’s Synagro biosolids contract scandal that surfaced some four years ago, is under court order to surrender himself by mid-June to serve a five-month prison term. The clerk’s office in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan confirmed that the 41-year-old Clark was sentenced on Feb. 16, and according to the judgment commitment order is required to surrender for serving his time at the institution designated by the Bureau of Prisons before 2 p.m. on June 18. According to the local press, federal prosecutors had sought a 16-month sentence for Clark’s part in the scandal, including lying to the FBI about his role in influencing the $1.2 billion contract. Clark, a one-time aide to Councilman Kenneth Cockrel Jr., had long insisted he never accepted any bribes. He said his only crime was lying to federal agents about giving $3,000 back to a company official, which he didn’t do. Cockrel wasn’t implicated. U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn, who gave Clark the five-month sentence, also ordered him to serve five months of home confinement and two years of probation.
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