Ex-Detroit detective pleads guilty to bribery in towing scandal
A former Detroit police detective charged with accepting bribes from a towing company pleaded guilty in federal court Friday.
Michael Pacteles, 45, of Southgate, was accused of accepting bribes, including a vehicle and over $3,000 in cash, from an operator of a towing company in exchange for favors to the operator, according to the U.S. Attorney's office in Detroit.
Federal prosecutors said Pacteles removed stolen vehicles from the Detroit Police Department's database instead of properly recovering those that were in the towing company's possession. The government also said Pacteles agreed to provide restricted police information about vehicles to the towing operator.
After the stolen vehicles were removed from DPD’s database, Pacteles told the operator he could "do what you want with them," according to court documents.
A police sergeant later learned what Pacteles had done and instructed him to recover the stolen vehicles. Pacteles resigned from the department in 2020.
Pacteles pleaded guilty to bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, court documents show.
Pacteles was arrested in 2021 and was working for the Hamtramck Police Department at the time. He was the fourth Detroit police officer or former officer that had been charged in connection with Operation Northern Hook, an FBI investigation into city government corruption and Detroit's towing industry.
Earlier this month, former Detroit police officer Daniel Vickers was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for his role in the towing bribery scandal.
More:Ex-Detroit police officer sentenced in towing bribery scheme
Related:Pay-to-play, corrupt cops and predatory practices: This is Detroit's hidden world of towing
Former Detroit police Lt. John F. Kennedy, who at one point led the department's integrity unit, pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy last summer and is scheduled to be sentenced April 18. And retired Detroit police officer Alonzo Jones was sentenced to 15 months in prison last summer for accepting towing bribes.
Also charged in the federal government's corruption investigation was City Councilman Andre Spivey, who pleaded guilty in 2021 to accepting $35,900 in bribes from an undercover law enforcement agent and a confidential FBI source in exchange for his political influence on a pending vehicle towing ordinance.
Spivey was later sentenced to two years in prison.
Andrea Sahouri covers criminal justice for the Detroit Free Press. She can be contacted at 313-264-0442, asahouri@freepress.com or on Twitter @andreamsahouri.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ex-Detroit police detective pleads guilty to bribery in towing scandal
