Report: Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to marry this weekend

Six months after he was released from federal prison, former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is set to remarry this weekend, according to a report from Deadline Detroit.

The wedding to Laticia Maria McGee is slated for Saturday at the city's Historic Little Rock Baptist Church, the website reported.

Kilpatrick preached at the house of worship last month. “How can you be born again and be the same person?” the former mayor asked those gathered at the church, where he took to the pulpit amid shouts of "Kwame!" and "We love you, Kwame!"

He had told Deadline Detroit in June that he planned to remarry and study for the ministry.

He met McGee when she started working as a receptionist in the mayor's office, the digital media outlet reported Wednesday. Kilpatrick said he connected with her through a friend and they started praying on the phone together before eventual prison visits.

"I learned you can actually build a relationship by being truthful and honest," he told Deadline Detroit. "She was great at forcing me to be myself." 

Kilpatrick served more than seven years in a federal prison after being sentenced to 28 years before being released early by a commutation in January at the direction of President Donald Trump in one of his final acts as president.

Kilpatrick's sentence, the longest for a conviction for public corruption, ended a chapter in Detroit’s history. The city plunged into the largest municipal bankruptcy in America’s history in July 2013 partly because of financial decisions made by Kilpatrick.

The former mayor was convicted of racketeering conspiracy in March 2013 on 24 federal felony counts, including mail fraud, wire fraud and racketeering. Seven months later, Kilpatrick was sentenced to federal prison by U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds.

“One sad thing about this case is that a man with the charisma and ability of Mr. Kilpatrick chose to waste his talents on personal aggrandizement and enrichment when he had the potential to do so much for the city,” Edmunds said before sentencing him  nearly eight years ago.

As part of Trump’s commutation, Kilpatrick’s prison sentence was reduced but his 24 felony convictions remain. The former mayor has to pay $1.5 million to Detroit's water department and more than $854,000 in restitution to the city.

The scion of a once powerful and politically connected family, Kilpatrick served as a state lawmaker in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1997 to 2002. He became the youngest person to serve as mayor of Detroit when he was elected in November 2001.

Kilpatrick served as mayor from 2002 before resigning in September 2008 after he was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice.

In 2018, he announced his divorce from wife Carlita. They have three sons.