Tresa Baldas, and Christina Hall

Detroit Free Press

Trash hauler Rizzo Environmental Services is battling more image problems as a second Macomb County politician has been charged with taking bribes from the popular garbage company in exchange for preferential treatment.

The latest case involves an official who also worked for Rizzo during the bidding process.

Macomb Township Trustee Clifford Freitas, 43, was charged with bribery today for pocketing $7,500 in cash from an unnamed company for whom he worked in exchange for helping that company win a contract in July 2015. The charging document does not name Rizzo, but multiple sources have told the Free Press that it is Rizzo Environmental Services.

► Related: How Rizzo Services built a garbage empire in metro Detroit

According to Freitas' LinkedIn profile, he worked for Rizzo from June 2013 until this month.

"He managed all aspects of construction projects, including initial design, acquiring bids, creating a budget, scheduling construction and overseeing field operations," his LinkedIn profile says, noting Freitas possessed "broad knowledge and numerous relationships with contractors and city officials in order to effectively complete projects."

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► Related: Trash hauler key player in Macomb County corruption probe

Macomb Township's website, however, makes no mention of Freitas' business ties to Rizzo on his biography page.

But according to Macomb County meeting minutes, Freitas read a prepared statement to the board on July 8, 2015, "stating in part that he would be abstaining from the deliberations and voting on the single waste hauler contract due to the fact he is employed by Rizzo Management, a company that submitted a bid on the waste hauler contract."

According to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court today, Freitas gave insider bidding tips to Rizzo to help them win the deal – which they did – and also accepted a $35,000 bribe from Rizzo to make sure the bill was added onto the water bill so that Rizzo would save money.

Rizzo officials were not readily available for comment. The Free Press has left emails and phone messages for the company seeking comment.

Rizzo has not been charged in the case.

Rizzo has, however, previously stated that it is assisting the federal government in what the FBI has described as a widespread investigation into pay-to-play schemes across Macomb County.

► Feds: There's 'systemic corruption' in Macomb County

“In this, as in all matters, we’re cooperating with the legal authorities. We will follow their guidance so long as it may be required in the coming weeks,” the company said. “We will continue to focus on delivery of our services, and to demonstrate to our employees, partners and customers that we remain the premier provider of environmental services in our community.”

Today's charges come less than two weeks after Clinton Township Trustee Dean Reynolds was charged with taking bribes from Rizzo Environmental Services in exchange for his vote on a trash-hauling contract.

In that case, and in the case involving Freitas, FBI investigators bugged the phones of the politicians and the bribe giver to uncover the alleged scheme.

According to the criminal complaint, here is what led to the charges against Freitas:

In 2015, while working for both Rizzo and as a trustee, Freitas offered to help Rizzo win a contract in exchange for money. Freitas also agreed to help get the billing for the contract placed on the Macomb Township water bill, which would save the company money and make it cheaper to provide the service, the complaint states.

But unbeknownst to Freitas and the Rizzo official with whom he was dealing, the FBI had tapped their phones, the complaint states. In January, the businessman was confronted with the wiretap evidence, admitted responsibility and agreed to cooperate with the investigation, the complaint states.

According to wiretap evidence detailed by the FBI in court records, here is what happened:

Freitas was excluded from the bid process because he worked for the company. But on Aug. 24, 2015, Freitas called the businessman and told him the number he should bid based on tips he got from an unnamed township source.

According to court records, Freitas told the businessman: "Alright, I just met with them ... Um, your guys are gonna get a phone call from the attorney to negotiate prices tomorrow ... there's no way anyone can beat us. .. and make it flat for eight years."

The company ended up winning the deal. Freitas got his $7,500 cash bribe, the FBI states in court documents.

The company offered to pay Freitas another $35,000 "if he was able to get the billing for the contract put onto the Macomb township water bill ... (which) would save the company a significant amount of money," the complaint states.

Almost a year later, the FBI set up Freitas with the help of the businessman, who wore a wire and secretly videotaped and audio taped Freitas receiving a $2,000 cash bribe in an envelope from him, the complaint states. Here's an excerpt from that transaction:

Businessman: "Yeah, so here's uh, I think this is two, let me make sure. yeah. sorry. I couldn't remember what the hell I put in there.

Freitas: "Okay, oh, thank you."

Businessman: "So that'll be for, ya know, the whole water bill effort ... So that looks pretty good, huh?"

Freitas: "Yeah, it looks good."“Bribery in municipal contracting undermines clean and effective government and erodes public trust,” U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said in announcing today's charges.

Freitas lost a re-election bid for trustee in the Republican primary in August and is not on the ballot in the November general election.​

Freitas is due in U.S. District Court at 1 p.m. for an initial appearance. He was not readily available for comment.

Staff Writer Gina Damron contributed to this report.

Tresa Baldas can be contacted at Tbaldas@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @Tbaldas.