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Kwame Kilpatrick's Restitution Payments To Rise

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - Kwame Kilpatrick is expected to start chipping away at that $860,000 sum he owes the City of Detroit a little bit faster. Michigan prison officials plan to force the former mayor to make higher restitution payments.

The Detroit News reported that Kilpatrick's monthly payment probably will rise from $160 to about $500. Corrections Department spokesman Russ Marlan said Kilpatrick has been making "pretty small payments."

A statement released early Thursday on behalf of Kilpatrick says he wasn't surprised by the Corrections Department's decision. Kilpatrick said he continues to work with Texas officials to follow all the conditions of his parole.

Last month, Kilpatrick said he and his family moved into a "bigger" house in the Dallas area, but that it was not much more expensive than their previous home. Kilpatrick owes the restitution from a 2008 plea in a criminal case.

In a message to Detroiters on his Facebook page, Kilpatrick thanked his supporters and slammed the media for reporting on the restitution issue, calling it a "distraction." He said the city has much larger problems.

"Thank you so much for your kind words, encouragement, and support.  Remember, what's going on there is so much bigger than me, or any one of us.  Two or Three days of news stories about me, and getting $800 more in payments, will not cure the enormity of ills that the City is facing.  $800 won't solve your budget problem, crime problem, lighting issues, education issues, moral issues ... city service issues, development issues, labor issues, and most of all the negative issues that pervade the crisis of the inability of achieving UNITY ...  It's a tremendous distraction for you.  Every time you are pulled into this stupidity, ignorance, and malicious strategy of hate, the community suffers." (Read more on Facebook).

(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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