Monica Conyers pleads guilty to taking bribes

Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, the wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr., pleaded guilty Friday morning to charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, the Justice Department said.

The terms of the plea agreement were not immediately available, but had been negotiated between prosecutors and Mrs. Conyers’ lawyers for more than a week.

Mrs. Conyers had been under investigation for allegedly accepting bribes from a consultant in connection with a City Council vote to approve a $1.2 billion sludge hauling contract.

The consultant, Rayford W. Jackson, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a city official in connection with the contract to Houston-based Synagro Technologies Inc.

The guilty plea could end Mrs. Conyers’ brief public service career, which began when she joined the city council in 2005 after 16 years as a teacher and administrator in the Detroit Public Schools.

Mrs. Conyers, the 44-year-old mother of two sons, who is more than three decades younger than her 80-year-old husband, graduated from the University of the District of Columbia School of Law.