BUSTED ON THE JOB - OAKLAND COUNTY JUDGE PLAYS WHILE GETTIN' PAID

whether you live in Oakland County or not you are paying this guy district court judges salaries are made up of county tax money and state tax money once you see what I catch this judge doing I think you'll have a major objection it's Monday morning May 20th at the 52nd district court the docket is full court starts at 8:30 for sharp all these defendants and all these attorneys are waiting what his honor isn't here by 9:00 there's still no judge in this novi courtroom in fact the judge isn't even in know why there's a shiny white vehicle in front of his house miles away it's 908 he has not left for work yet all rise for the Honorable Dennis powers my opinion right now is that you're kind of a lazy judge what's your opinion a guy who's sucking in a salary of a hundred thirty eight thousand two hundred seventy two dollars a year of taxpayer money you're never at court on time are you I'm where I'm supposed to be when I'm supposed to be whenever I'm supposed to be there and having one heck of a good time doing it judges are supposed to be in court and take care of business and they do that and you take care of business I take care of business business today I don't feel like doing anything it's 9:00 a.m. on Friday May 17th the courthouse is open there's the judges wheels parked in front of his house it is 905 and there's judges gone judge powers doesn't even leave his home until 11:55 he's already three and a half hours late 12:15 and here he is chowing down and chewing the fat in a Waterford gas station / Subway / Dunkin Donuts 12:55 the judge heads into McDonald's what an appetite for a guy who hasn't been to work yet 1:05 judge powers goes to the credit union in waterford got to take care all that taxpayer money he earns at 127 the judge is in Union Lake filling his tank and at 2:20 judge powers arise for a long hard day at court but not too long since the courthouse closes in two hours in 10 minutes and if you think this was an easy day wait until I show you what he does on Monday but first I got to show you the courtroom calendar there are three judges at Novus 52 one court judges body powers and McKenzie while it appears Judge Bondi has this week off in March Judge powers is listed as attending a conference when I found out Judge powers wasn't at a conference he was in Aruba he is yeah relaxing at the La Cabana Beach & Racquet Club the judge belongs to a vacation plan called Bluegreen resorts he was booked at the Solaris err side in Miami in January the same week his calendar says he was at another conference February he was booked at the Casa Del Mar Resort the exact same week his calendar says he was at another conference and in late April and early May we actually follow the judge during his conference week in my Tennessee Mountain oh there he is vacationing with his wife at the mountain loft Resort in Tennessee yep it's another conference week and there's Judge powers and another Bluegreen resort living it up after taking a whole week off work the judge has the nerve to show up an hour and forty-five minutes late when he gets back on the job but that's no surprise because I watched him pull into the parking lot late all the time remember court starts at 8:30 4:00 a.m. even though he always showed up late he's always up for a nice break from the courthouse here at the donut house the clock is ticking but the judge is kicking kicking back with a Long John and a lady friend judge bowers isn't a hanging judge he's a hanging around judge we watch the judge loaf around for days and days and days but nothing like this next day Monday May 13th it's 1103 and the judge hasn't even left his house yet his docket had 23 cases all starting early in the morning 11:32 the judge gets a car wash just a mile from the court 11:36 fill er up gee the judge hasn't even been to work yet and he's not going well new judge powers is at a swanky Country Club in Commerce Township first he gets his grub on and then he gets his game on why waste a nice day in a stuffy old courthouse instead of swinging the gavel judge power spends his whole day swinging his golf clubs exactly one week after the golf day on May 20th I'm ready to bring some order to the court hey where were you this morning where were we oh this morning well you had port at 8:30 and I had a camera in the courtroom request and you didn't show up Phil close to 10 o'clock I didn't show in the coral until 10 o'clock resurrection mmm I saw pulling into the parking lot at around 9:00 57 I don't know what time was for sure but it could have been yesterday okay where were you how come you were late I had to run an errand he didn't want any errand he didn't leave his house until 9:30 what time to get to work on Friday mmm noon I think now you got to work at 2:20 what did you have going on Friday that made it so you didn't get to work till after 2 o'clock I had a meeting get a meeting yes sir who is a meeting with I prefer not to say well I'd prefer to say here's his meeting what happened last Monday when you have canceled your whole docket we have a golf outing at a golf outing yes sir so you canceled your whole docket yes sir so you had a whole bunch of attorneys and defendants and I cancelled it ahead of time it was a chamber golf outing let's cut that participated in that yes sir but actually being paid by the county to be a judge yes sir you think it put in a good week of work last week I do sir oh yeah this poor guy worked like a dog when did be an inconvenience for the attorney to have to reschedule everything because the judge is off golfing you know you've put off golfing is a little bit different than being in a community golf outing and you'll find out that that's part of what being a judge is about gee I thought this was what being a judge was about and what about all those weeks of conferences that are on the judges calendar where were you was on vacation you're on vacation well why is it's a conference then it just the way it was worded on it I couldn't gee that's funny you're the only judge who has his vacation days listed as conference so how many actual vacation days has a judge taken this year this year I think I've taken eight eight nine ten something like that so you're going back to Cornell no I'm gonna go golfing right now I got my clubs and I'm heading off the golf course are you being sarcastic I don't even know you're getting sarcastic yeah well you were golfing last week weren't you I was golfing you had a docket I had no docket I cancelled the docket to attend a chamber golf oh well I'm gonna go get the docket so I can see and I'll talk to those attorneys and I'll see how they felt and the defendants how they felt about the fact that you cancelled the docket and they took days off from work and they reschedule things and you were out golfing and I'll see what they have to say I couldn't find out what those defendants and attorneys had to say because the court would only release this piece of paper it states that 23 cases had to be rescheduled the day Judge powers decided to go golfing there are no names no case numbers I also asked the county in court for the judges official vacation records once again no go with that I rest my case

Channel: Lisa Croff Edits

Views: 692,891

Rating: 4.6615319 out of 5

Keywords: OAKLAND COUNTY JUDGE, JUDGE POWERS, LISA CROFF, ROB WOLCHEK, WJBK, FOX 2 NEWS, DETROIT, yt:stretch=16:9

Id: C2WjxqtdF0k

Length: 8min 36sec (516 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 31 2013