DETROIT (WWJ) — A former Detroit police officer has pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents who were investigating allegations of bribery.
U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison’s office announced Tuesday 26-year-old Dametri J. Wade pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to a federal agent, a crime that could land him in prison for up to five years.
Per the plea agreement, Wade admitted to being at the scene of a larceny in his Detroit Police Department scout car on Aug. 11, 2022 at a home on St. Maron Place, near Lafayette and Chene, just east of downtown.
Ison’s office says the perpetrators of the larceny used false documents “to make it appear like they had legal authority to access the property.” Wade was at the scene in his DPD scout car to “further the ruse that the perpetrators of the larceny were legally permitted to enter the home in question.”
While the attorney’s office didn’t say what was taken from the home, FBI agents conducting a bribery investigation in December 2022 interviewed Wade about the incident. He denied knowing anything about a larceny at the home, according to Ison’s office.
“In fact, Wade knew that there was going to be a larceny at the property, and that his presence was necessary to further the fiction that the larceny’s perpetrators were entering the property for a legally valid purpose,” according to the attorney’s office.
“Lying to law enforcement is never acceptable, but for an officer sworn to uphold the law to do so is inexcusable,” Ison said, per a press release. “Today’s conviction should send a strong message that no one, even a police officer, is above the law.”
"Today’s guilty plea from former Detroit Police Officer Dametri Wade reinforces our unwavering commitment to enforcing the highest standards of integrity in law enforcement," said Cheyvoryea Gibson, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI in Detroit.
Gibson said federal authorities collaborated with Detroit Police Chief James White and the department over the course of the investigation.
Wade is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 5.