A federal jury convicted a former DeKalb County Police
Department officer Willie Daren Durrett on federal charges of accepting bribes
and conspiring with former DeKalb County Deputy Chief of Police Donald Frank to
accept bribes.
A federal jury convicted a former DeKalb County Police
Department officer Willie Daren Durrett on federal charges of accepting bribes
and conspiring with former DeKalb County Deputy Chief of Police Donald Frank to
accept bribes.
According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates, the charges
and other information presented in court: From September 2008 through August
2009, Durrett, who was then serving as a DeKalb County Police Lieutenant,
conspired with Frank, who was then serving as the Deputy Chief of Police for
DeKalb County, to accept money from area businessman Amin Budhwani, 48, of
Atlanta, in exchange for influence and official actions as DeKalb County police
officers.
The jury convicted Durrett of participating in the
conspiracy, and on two counts of accepting thousands of dollars in bribes from
Budhwani between 2007 and 2008.
The jury acquitted Durrett on a third count of accepting a
bribe.
The evidence at trial showed Budhwani initially approached
Durrett in 2007 to help him intimidate a small business owner with whom
Budhwani had a dispute. Durrett made threatening phone calls to this man while
identifying himself as a DeKalb County police officer, which resulted in the
business owner paying Budhwani more than $10,000 to settle the dispute. Later
in 2008, Durrett helped Budhwani with a matter involving a business partner
with whom Budhwani had a disagreement.
Budhwani paid Durrett thousands of dollars in cash for using
his position as a DeKalb County Police Officer to assist Budhwani with these
matters. Durrett resigned from the DeKalb County Police Department in 2011. He
was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 1, 2011.
Frank, 48, pleaded guilty on April 1, 2011, to one count of
conspiracy to take bribes while he served as a Deputy Chief of Police for
DeKalb County.