Two people involved in a long-running scheme to divert nearly 100 Detroit-area properties into fraudulent ownership structures have been sentenced in federal court after prosecutors say they used bribery, fake documents, and sham deeds to stop tax foreclosures and sell homes for profit.
Federal authorities announced that Zina Thomas, 62, of Detroit, and Jontae Jackson, 45, of Southfield, were given multi-year federal sentences after investigations tied them to a broad scheme that targeted homeowners facing tax foreclosure. United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. was among the officials who disclosed the outcome, and the sentence lengths reflect convictions for bribery, conspiracy, and identity theft.
Thomas, who worked as Director of Homeownership Programs for a local non-profit and also operated as a real estate agent, was sentenced to 90 months in federal prison following a conviction for federal program bribery. Jackson, formerly employed as a taxpayer assistant with the Wayne County Treasurer’s Office, received 66 months after convictions for conspiracy to commit bribery and aggravated identity theft. Both sentences were imposed by United States District Judge Robert J. White.
According to court records, Thomas and Jackson conspired to appropriate roughly 100 properties across Wayne County, with most located in the City of Detroit. The total estimated value of the properties involved was approximately $6.4M.
The scheme reportedly worked in several stages. Thomas identified homes at risk of tax foreclosure and used fraudulent quitclaim deeds to move title away from the true owners. Those deeds often first transferred properties to non-existent or straw “interim owners,” giving the conspirators paperwork that could be used to clear title for resale.
To stop foreclosures and keep auctions from moving forward, Thomas paid Jackson to manipulate county records. Jackson allegedly uploaded falsified documentation—fake driver’s licenses, bogus utility bills, and counterfeit Principal Residence Exemption forms—into Wayne County’s Property Tax Administration system. Those falsified records were then used to halt tax foreclosure actions so the properties could be sold.
Investigators say the fraud deprived Wayne County of about $1.5M in tax revenue by preventing dozens of properties from reaching auction. Thomas then sold many of the properties to third parties, obscuring the original theft behind layers of fake transfers and sales. Prosecutors tied those sales back to the scheme using paper trails, digital records, and witness statements gathered during the federal probe.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the investigation, with substantial assistance from the Wayne County Register of Deeds’ Mortgage & Deed Fraud Unit. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ryan A. Particka. Authorities emphasized that the matter involved both public corruption and identity-related offenses because county records were altered to benefit private actors at the expense of taxpaying residents.
Court filings outline how the fraud relied on exploiting weaknesses in record-keeping and trust in administrative reviewers. By introducing bogus documents into official systems and routing ownership through fictitious holders, the conspirators created the appearance of legitimate transfers. That appearance, investigators say, allowed real estate transactions to close and buyers to receive property titles without knowledge of the underlying criminality.
https://x.com/FBIDetroit/status/2072670439294316921
Sentencing statements described the human impact beyond the dollar figures: homeowners faced the loss of long-held residences, community stability was undermined, and local government coffers were shortchanged. Federal sentencing also accounted for the organized nature of the scheme and the role of an insider who had access to county systems, which elevated the seriousness of the offenses in the eyes of the court.
Both defendants were held accountable in federal court, with prison terms reflecting the combination of bribery, conspiracy, and identity theft counts. The case serves as an example of how coordinated fraud can leverage official systems to strip assets from vulnerable owners, and how interagency cooperation can bring such schemes to light and to justice.
