St. Clair Shores man learns sentence in corruption case
One-time cop caught in FBI bribery sting
Former Hamtramck police officer Mike Stout was sentenced to one year of house arrest Thursday for pocketing bribes as questions linger about whether anyone else linked to the corruption investigation will be charged with wrongdoing.
Stout, 62, of St. Clair Shores, is the sixth person convicted, so far, in a round of criminal cases flowing from an undercover FBI sting targeting bribery within municipal towing operations across the region dubbed “Operation Northern Hook.” And he is the second person to be spared from prison despite being convicted of corruption and pocketing bribes.
The probe — and a daylight raid at Detroit City Hall in August 2021 — upended the political career of Detroit Councilwoman Janeé Ayers, linked Mayor Mike Duggan to a chain of events that outed a confidential FBI informant and sent Detroit Councilman André Spivey to prison.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman to sentence Stout to almost two years in prison for accepting about $9,200 worth of bribes. A 21-month sentence was justified, Assistant U.S. Steven Cares wrote, because Stout committed a crime that erodes confidence in public servants, law enforcement and government.
“Like all police officers, Michael Stout took an oath to protect and serve the citizens of Hamtramck,” Cares wrote. “But he let greed get in the way.”
Stout’s lawyer, Mohammed Nasser, requested probation, noting his client no longer works as a police officer, committed a non-violent crime, accepted responsibility and is undergoing treatment for physical and mental health issues. That includes closed head injuries, arthritis, post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol dependence.
“A term of probation, one that allows him to enter and continue treatment for his physical and mental health, would allow him to continue his role as a productive member of society and show that he has learned from his mistake,” Stout’s lawyer wrote.
Stout, who left the department in 2020 and is working as a shift leader at an area factory, is the second current or former Hamtramck Police officer to be charged with wrongdoing in the FBI investigation.
Officer Mike Pacteles — who joined the department after retiring as a Detroit Police detective — was convicted of taking bribes from a towing company owner. He was sentenced in August to a year in a halfway house and six months of home confinement despite prosecutors seeking a 21-month sentence.
The status of the broader towing investigation was unclear Thursday. And it was unclear whether politicians linked to the investigation will be charged. That includes Ayers and Benson, whose homes were searched at the same time as the City Hall raid, along with searches at the homes of their respective chiefs of staff, Ricardo Silva and Carol Banks.
None of the four has been charged with wrongdoing.
“We do not comment on our investigations,” said Gina Balaya, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit.
The sentence is the latest development in a years-long federal assault on public corruption in Metro Detroit. The prosecution has led to charges against more than 130 politicians, labor leaders, bureaucrats, police officers and school officials in recent years.
Motown crackdown
Federal prosecutors in Metro Detroit have charged more than 130 people with bribery, embezzlement and other corruption-related crimes in recent years. Click on the names of public officials below to learn more about the amount of illegal benefits involved in their cases — and the penalty they paid.
Stout admitted receiving bribes that included a used car worth $7,719 and $1,500 cash from an undercover FBI agent and a towing industry figure referred to in court filings as “Tower A.”
In exchange for bribes, Stout agreed to provide confidential police information, including vehicle registration details from the Michigan Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN), according to the government.
The Stout investigation started in October 2019 after he was accused of telling “Tower A” that he was retiring from Hamtramck Police and joining the Highland Park Police Department’s auto theft unit.
“With this new job, he told Tower A, he could ‘take care of’ Tower A but needed a car,” an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit.
The Highland Park job never materialized, however, and Stout did not know “Tower A” was working with the FBI to record their meetings and phone calls.
The officer said he needed two cars — one for him and one for his daughter, according to the complaint. Stout said he could “look out” for the tower, according to the FBI.
The tower met Stout and gave him $500 while asking for help running the plate of a white Subaru, saying the vehicle had been following him around the area. The tower said he was worried the vehicle was driven by an internal affairs investigator or Detroit Police official.
According to prosecutors, Stout asked for the license plate number, offering to “run it right now.”
Stout called an unidentified Hamtramck Police Department employee to obtain the information through LEIN, prosecutors alleged.
Stout was arrested in March 2022. Four other people have been convicted so far in the towing scandal.
• Spivey was sentenced to two years in federal prison for receiving almost $36,000 in bribes but served less than half of that time.
• Former Detroit police officer Daniel Vickers was ordered to serve 27 months in federal prison after admitting he received more than $3,400 in bribes.
• Former Detroit Police Lt. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who was in charge of rooting out department misconduct, was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for receiving bribes. Prosecutors say Kennedy accepted cash, cars and car repairs from an undercover FBI informant totaling $14,950.
• Former Detroit officer Alonzo Jones, who wore his badge and drove his squad car to pick up $3,200 in cash bribes, was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.