Lansing ― Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office is set to begin offering evidence Tuesday in a case against an ex-aide of Republican former House Speaker Jason Wentworth, alleging embezzlement from a state health park grant.
The preliminary examination of David Coker Jr. in front of 54A District Judge Kristen Simmons in Lansing will help determine whether there is enough evidence to send 52-year-old Coker to trial on the charges.
Coker was arraigned on seven counts last May, including criminal enterprise, three counts of false pretense of $100,000 or more, two counts of embezzlement of $100,000 or more, and a violation of the state’s safekeeping of public moneys law, which prohibits public officers or their employees from commingling public funds with their own money.
Criminal enterprise is a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison, a $100,000 fine and a criminal forfeiture of the proceeds.
The charges stem from a $25 million earmark sponsored by Wentworth, a Republican, in the fiscal year 2022-23 state budget. The budget included more than $1 billion in rushed earmark spending added hours before a final vote, while Wentworth was the House’s top leader.
Coker set up a nonprofit organization named Complete Health Park in June 2022 and won the grant from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to oversee the project less than seven months later.
According to the charges read in court, Coker is alleged to have used a separate consulting for-profit business called IWC to invoice Complete Health Park at least twice in December 2022: Once for roughly $182,000 and another time for about $638,000.
Charging documents read in at court in May indicate Coker spent that money on vehicles, firearms, accessories and precious metals.
Coker’s attorney, Josh Blanchard, has maintained Coker had a “bold” vision to transform Clare County by addressing systemic poverty and public health issues.
“David Coker is not hiding from the truth. We’ve been above board every step of the way,” Blanchard said at the time of Coker’s arraignment.
eleblanc@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Ex-Michigan House aide’s embezzlement evidentiary hearing begins
Reporting by Beth LeBlanc, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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