DDOT workers charged in fake commercial driver's license bribery scheme

DETROIT (WJBK) - A DDOT employee and a retiree are facing criminal charges stemming from a bribery scheme involving DDOT bus drivers.

It's alleged dozens of drivers paid cash to fraudulently get their commercial licenses.

Attorney General Bill Schutte announced the arrest of one current and one former DDOT employee, essentially for making and selling phony commercial driver’s licenses.

At least 85 fake paperwork from May 2012 to June 2013.

Michelle Reid, who retired from DDOT in 2009, was arraigned on Wednesday, and Calvin Foulks, who works for DDOT, has been suspended without pay after the charges were announced.

Both are charged with multiple felony counts for accepting $4,000 in cash bribes for phoning up at least 85 commercial driver’s license skills test and selling them to truck or bus drivers, so they get a CDL.

The Secretary of State has suspended those 85 licenses.

Officials from the City of Detroit said that none of the 85 people with fake licenses are currently driving buses for the DDOT.

The city checks bus drivers’ licenses on a weekly basis to make sure DDOT licenses are up-to-date.

If Reid and Foulks are convicted they could serve at up to 14 years in prison.