A Southfield woman who worked for the Wayne County treasurer’s office has been sentenced to federal prison for her role in a conspiracy to steal properties headed for foreclosure.
At a hearing July 1 in federal court in Detroit, Jontae Jackson, 45, was sentenced to 66 months incarceration for conspiracy to commit bribery and aggravated identity theft. Co-conspirator Zina Thomas, 62, of Detroit, was handed a sentence of 90 months in federal prison for federal program bribery.
According to the Department of Justice, court records show Jackson — who was a taxpayer assistant at the Wayne County Treasurer’s Office — conspired with and took bribes from Thomas to steal approximately 100 properties located in Wayne County, primarily in Detroit, valued at approximately $6.4 million. Thomas was Director of Homeownership Programs for a local non-profit organization and a real estate agent at the time.
As stated in a news release from the DOJ: “The scheme involved Thomas identifying properties facing potential tax foreclosure and then diverting those properties into her control through fraudulent quitclaim deeds.”
The fraud involved multiple bogus deeds, and the properties often transferred from the victim-owners to non-existent “interim owners,” the DOJ stated. Thomas then sold many of the properties to third parties and bribed Jackson to upload false documentation — including fake driver’s licenses,utility bills and Principal Residence Exemption forms — into Wayne County’s Property Tax Administration system. Jackson then stopped the pending foreclosures.
The scheme prevented dozens of properties from being auctioned off, depriving Wayne County of an estimated $1.5M in tax revenue, the DOJ stated.
The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Wayne County Register of Deeds’ Mortgage & Deed Fraud Unit, and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Particka.
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