A Wayne State University employee, using school computers and a personal one, is charged with swindling hundreds of Metro Detroit motorists in a car insurance scam.
Timmica Morton, 40, a WSU employee in the environmental health department, was charged this week with selling more than 300 Ameriprise auto insurance policies to drivers, then pocketing down payments that never went to the insurance company. The victims thought they were getting a great deal. Many were Detroit residents, according to the Wayne County Sheriff's Department.
The Sheriff's Department, which headed the investigation, said Morton, who posed as an insurance broker, accessed insurance policy applications on the computer. Customers gave her the information and she submitted the papers to Ameriprise, which created legit policies. Morton then collected down payments of $30 to $300. She's been arraigned and is currently in the Wayne County Jail. Bond was set at 10 percent of $50,000.
"We're tired of good citizens being victimized by crime," Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon said in a statement.
Lead investigator Ira Todd of the Detroit Police Department, who is on the sheriff's Special Assignment Task Force, said Morton had created about $800,000 in insurance policies in the scam. He said insurance investigator David Adamczyk and Wayne State University Police also worked on the case.
"We're still actively seeking other co-conspirators in the case," Todd said.
