Feds: Bucci cooperating with public corruption investigation

Detroit — Former Macomb Township Trustee Dino Bucci is cooperating with the FBI agents in a public corruption investigation targeting his former boss, ex-Macomb County Public Works Commissioner Anthony Marrocco, court records filed Thursday confirmed.  

Bucci stepped down from his post in November, one year after being indicted on bribery, extortion, fraud, theft and money laundering charges in connection with the widespread Macomb County corruption scandal.

Bucci was Marrocco’s former right-hand man who might be able to provide insight into the office’s operations. Marrocco, who lost a 2016 re-election, is a target of the FBI corruption investigation, according to a sealed wiretap affidavit obtained by The News.

The development involving Bucci was outlined in court records filed by the U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider asking U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland for more time in the case, which he granted Thursday. 

"The defendant has decided to cooperate with the government, which the parties believe will eventually lead to a resolution of the case with a plea to one or more offenses," the filing reads. 

"Given the vast scope of the corruption case under investigation, about which the defendant has knowledge, including approximately 100 hours of tape recordings, substantial additional time is needed for the parties to meet and conduct debriefings," the filing reads."

Bucci is free on bond while awaiting a jury trial. If convicted, Bucci could be sentenced to more than 20 years in federal prison.

His attorney, Stephen Rabaut, was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

Federal court records accuse Bucci of receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars while extorting engineering contractors and forcing county employees to drive his child to school and plow snow at his home.

Bucci's trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 21.