Chicago's "rooftop pastor," the Rev. Corey Brooks, said Tuesday he gave $2,000 in church members' donations to disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who is on trial on racketeering charges.
Brooks said Kilpatrick, who was forced to resign as mayor in 2008 and served 14 months in prison, wrote a letter during the holiday season pleading for financial assistance for his family. Brooks said he responded by wiring him $2,000.
"If anybody sends me a heart-wrenching letter, the way that letter was written, if I had any power to help, I would help," Brooks said. "That's just the way I am."
A video recording shows Kilpatrick collecting the wired money at a Michigan Wal-Mart, pocketing $800 and wiring the rest to his family now living in Texas, according to Fox-TV affiliate WJBK in Detroit. Michigan authorities are investigating whether Kilpatrick deceived them by not including the $2,000 in his required report of income and gifts for December, according to WJBK and the Detroit Free Press.