DETROIT — FBI agents raided a Rochester Hills home Wednesday morning as part of a broadening corruption investigation centered on public officials in Detroit, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Agents were seen swarming the home about 9 a.m. and a man was handcuffed outside. An FBI spokeswoman confirmed a search warrant was executed and an unnamed person was taken into custody.
Jackie Clark, who lives down the street from the house that was raided, said her husband alerted her when he saw a police vehicle race down the street followed by several other cars.
"We both came out here and there was about eight vehicles here, mostly FBI," Clark said.
The raid is the latest public move in a wide corruption investigation involving at least three city council members and a confidential FBI source who was tied to Detroit's towing industry. In late September, former Councilman Andre Spivey pleaded guilty to taking bribes totaling $35,900 in exchange for his help with the city's towing regulations.
Spivey's case is the first charged as part of the federal investigation, called Operation Northern Hook.
Investigators have not described publicly how the Police Department fits into the criminal probe. But a recent federal criminal case involving a former Detroit police officer and an internal Detroit police investigation documented separate alleged instances of officers steering work to specific towing companies.
Various criminal prosecutions, city audits and lawsuits have shown a hotbed of corruption tied to towing, a lack of city oversight and an inability to enact needed reforms.
Mayor Mike Duggan and James White, who was named police chief this summer, are working to overhaul the city's system for hiring towing companies. The city council recently enacted some reforms of its own, trying to address consumer complaints about high fees and predatory practices by towing companies.
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