FBI Raids Homes of Two Democrat Detroit Council Members and City Hall

Eight years after the former mayor of Detroit was charged with racketeering, City Hall was raided, as well as the homes of two city council members. This all appears to be part of a corruption investigation into city towing operations that has been going on for quite some time.

Councilman Scott Benson and Councilwoman Janee Ayers were the two members of the city council whose homes were raided on Wednesday. Councilman Andre Spivey has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bribery linked to this investigation. It is unknown at this time if any charges will be brought against the two councilmembers whose houses were raided.

Special agent Tim Waters held a press conference after the raids on Wednesday. Walters stated, “The citizens of Detroit have a right to a city government that’s free of corruption”

Sarah Rahal tweeted a video of the press conference captioned, “FBI Detroit Special Agent Tim Waters said the multiple raids conducted this morning were because “The citizens of Detroit have a right to a city government that’s free of corruption,” he said. @detroitnews“

FBI Detroit Special Agent Tim Waters said the multiple raids conducted this morning were because “The citizens of Detroit have a right to a city government that’s free of corruption,” he said. @detroitnews pic.twitter.com/5BgQtVDt70

— Sarah Rahal (@SarahRahal_) August 25, 2021

After the raids, Mayor Mike Duggan pledged to overhaul the city’s municipal towing system.

Detroit News reported on the Mayor’s press conference:

“The amounts of money that are involved are just breeding potential for abuse,” the mayor said at a press conference at Detroit’s Public Safety Headquarters.

Duggan said he directed Detroit Police Chief James White to bring him a plan in two weeks to eliminate the city’s towing company rotation practice “once and for good.”

The police department had been working toward eliminating a preferential rotation and “get this problem behind us for good,” said Duggan, adding plans to move to an open competitive bid were paused earlier this year after the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners voted to extend current permits.

Duggan said White is working on restarting that effort, and, in the meantime, “the feds are going to do what they’re going to do.”

Wednesday’s raids were conducted at the homes of at-large Councilwoman Janeé Ayers and District 3 Councilman Scott Benson. Both did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. The two have not been charged with any crimes, and the full scope of the federal investigation is unclear...

Detroit’s police towing operation for years has been marred by controversy and scandal, much of it focusing on Gasper Fiore, former owner of Boulevard & Trumbull Towing in southwest Detroit. Fiore was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison in August 2018 after being convicted in a Macomb County public corruption scheme.

The raid at Ayers’ home came three years after her name emerged in a bribery investigation involving Fiore that included a sealed FBI wiretap affidavit, which was obtained by The News.

A series of wiretapped calls from 2016 included an exchange between Fiore and a man identified as Nicholas Primus about secretly funneling money to Ayers to pay for advertising billboards. Federal agents did not list Ayers as a target of the wiretap investigation, and she was not charged with wrongdoing in that case.“

Former police chief James Craig told Detroit News, “he walked into a “whole mess of corruption” when he took the job in 2013.

“We didn’t have anywhere near these kind of issues with towing when I was police chief in Cincinnati and Portland (Maine), and when I was a cop in Los Angeles,” said Craig, who resigned in June and is expected to announce a run for governor.

Craig said he called the FBI after former Councilman Gabe Leland asked what the former chief considered “inappropriate questions about the towing rotation.”

“I said, ‘Are you trying to shake me down or what? This conversation’s over.’ He left my office, and by the time he hit the elevator, I was on the phone with the FBI,” Craig said.

It remains to be seen if any others will be charged in the investigation. Detroit has struggled with corruption. There has been proposed towing legislation to tighten the rules for all towing businesses including those who tow for the police. Companies would be required to take pictures of the vehicles they tow, maintain reports and have a police officer present before recovering certain vehicles something it appears the towing companies are against.