An Oakland County
businesswoman and a Detroit police officer were charged Thursday for their
roles in an elaborate fraud scheme involving fake police reports claiming
identity theft to help people clean up their credit problems, according to the
Michigan Attorney General’s Office.
Officer Tamboura
Jackson, 40, of Clinton Township, and Lisa Curtis, 34, of Macomb Township, were
arraigned in 52-1 District Court in Novi on felony racketeering and bribery
charges, Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a news release. They were each
released on a $10,000 bond.
In the news release,
Schuette said his office will not tolerate bribery of misconduct by public
officials.
“We will fight public
corruption aggressively, wherever it is found, to restore the people’s trust
and protect public safety,” Schuette said in the release.
According to the
release, the scheme involved dozens of people looking to improve their consumer
credit scores.
The case originated
from an investigation conducted by the FBI-led Detroit Area Public Corruption
Task Force working with the Michigan Attorney General’s Public Integrity Unit.
Here’s how
prosecutors allege the scheme worked:
From May 2009 through
September 2009, Curtis -- owner of Waterford Township-based Bright Star
Consulting LLC -- told dozens of her clients that she could improve their
credit scores for a fee ranging from $200 to $1,000.
After Curtis received
her fee from consumers, she and Jackson allegedly conducted a scheme to file
false police reports claiming identity theft related to certain credit card
transactions. She allegedly paid Jackson bribes ranging from $50 to $200 for
creating the phony documents.
Curtis allegedly
would provide Jackson her clients’ information including a fake story claiming
identity theft. Jackson allegedly would then create and submit false police
reports, which were filed without the clients’ knowledge or consent.
Curtis would then
send the false police reports to the national credit reporting agency Experian,
along with a fabricated letter from her clients asking for the reported
incidents of “identity theft” be removed from their credit history. Officials
said the fraudulent letter scam worked and several of the clients saw their
credit scores improve as much as 100 points.
Jackson is also
accused of using the scheme to improve his own credit rating by creating a
false police report signed by another officer, without the officer’s knowledge
or consent. He allegedly accessed the Detroit Police Department’s crime
reporting system using the other officer’s log-in information to file a false
police report.
Jackson, who is
suspended from the department without pay, and Curtis surrendered to
authorities on Thursday.
Court documents show
they are charged with conducting a criminal enterprise-racketeering, a 20-year
felony; uttering and publishing, a 14-year felony; and forgery, a 14-year felony.
Also, Jackson is charged with public officer accepting a bribe, while Curtis is
charged with bribery of a public officer, both 10-year felonies.
A preliminary exam is
scheduled for 10 a.m. Oct. 28 in Novi’s district court.
When Schuette took
office in 2011, he launched the public integrity unit in the Attorney General’s
Office. Since then, his office has filed 256 charges against 51 defendants.
Thirty-four defendants have been sentenced following their convictions.