DETROIT – A former Detroit Police Department officer was sentenced Tuesday to 26 months in prison for accepting bribes from an owner of an automobile collision shop in exchange for referring stolen and abandoned vehicles recovered in Detroit to that shop, U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said.
Charles Wills, 53, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland. Wills previously pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion.
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Wills was accused of accepted cash payments from the owner and operator of a Detroit collision shop in exchange for referring abandoned vehicles to that shop for repairs.
Officials said Wills accepting cash from other collision shops, wrote false police reports and introduced another officer to the scheme of accepting cash in exchange for referring vehicles to collision shops.
Wills is the fifth defendant to be sentenced in the investigation. A sixth defendant, Deonne Dotson, is awaiting trial.
All of the officers have been charged with engaging in extortion for using their official positions to refer cars to certain collision shops in exchange for cash payments.
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