DETROIT – A Howell man is accused of fraudulently billing the city of Detroit over $1 million for contaminated backfill dirt used at demolished properties.
Prosecutors said David MacDonald, 50, obtained the backfill dirt for free and from sources that had been contaminated. He is now facing criminal enterprise and false pretense charges.
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In 2017, MacDonald worked for the Den-Man company to lead the company’s demolition program. One of his responsibilities was to find backfill dirt for all the demolition sites the company was contracted by the city to handle.
Den-Man was responsible for backfilling the sites with dirt from approved sources and the company could bill Detroit for the price of the dirt. MacDonald claimed to have paid for dirt that he actually obtained at no cost.
Officials said he lied about the source of the dirt and billed the Detroit Land Bank Authority for amounts that he made up. Den-Man received $1,148,513.61 for reimbursement for backfill material.
MacDonald is charged with conducting a criminal enterprise and 11 counts of false pretenses. The Detroit Land Bank Authority has agreed to repay $1 million due to monitoring issues in the program.
The investigation was completed by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP).