Ex-cop ensnared Georgia police department coworkers in luxury car scam, feds say
A police officer in Georgia looking to make some extra cash is accused of helping orchestrate a $1 million fraud scheme involving high-end cars and sham loan applications.
Now he’s going to prison.
A federal judge sentenced Andre Jackson, 56, to three years and five months in prison with 120 hours of community service, prosecutors in the Northern District of Georgia said Nov. 2. Jackson will also have to pay $1 million in restitution.
Prosecutors said the former captain in the Clayton County Police Department used his position to recruit coworkers with good credit scores to buy luxury cars — but their loan applications all contained false information.
Jackson pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to commit wire fraud and bank fraud in June.
“At the sentencing hearing, Mr. Jackson expressed his sorrow and remorse for getting involved in this matter, and even more so, his shame from involving his wife and friends,” Paul Kish, who represents Jackson, told McClatchy News. “We had hoped for a better result but understand the court’s reasons for the sentence that was imposed.”
Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine said Jackson’s behavior as a police officer was “reprehensible.”
“Jackson’s actions showed he did not have respect for the very thing he swore to uphold,” Erskine said in the release.
Prosecutors said the alleged scam started in 2015 and continued until 2017. During that time, Jackson is accused of working with other individuals — including his wife, Jennifer Jackson — to recruit people with good credit scores to buy high-end vehicles.
Jackson’s defense attorney said he was roped into the scheme by Brian Guyton, who was also named in the indictment. Guyton reportedly told Jackson he would lease the cars to “entertainers, athletes, and similar public figures” while covering the monthly car payments and insurance.
Jackson told the individuals who bought the cars it was a legitimate program that could boost their credit scores, the government said. In exchange for each loan they got, the buyers were reportedly offered up to $5,000.
Prosecutors said they ultimately recruited more than 10 people, several of whom worked with Jackson at the police department, to apply for loans to buy the cars from dealerships in Georgia and Texas. According to the indictment, the cars they purchased included a 2016 BMW for $162,795, a 2014 Mercedes for $127,129 and a 2016 Dodge Charger for $89,959.
But the loan applications they submitted weren’t truthful, the government said.
Several of the applications falsely claimed the person applying worked at “two bogus companies owned by Jackson” and earned between $102,000 and $425,000 a year, prosecutors said. The loan agreements also barred buyers from selling or leasing the cars without the lenders’ permission — which they did anyway.
According to the government, the buyers ultimately defaulted on their loans when the monthly payments weren’t made.
A grand jury indicted Guyton, Jackson, Jackson’s wife and a family friend in October 2019. Court filings show they were arrested shortly thereafter. Jackson was initially released, but a judge revoked his bond in April after he was indicted on separate fraud charges in Michigan.
Kish, his defense attorney, said the charges involve Paycheck Protection Plan Loans. But he said Jackson didn’t know anything about his co-defendants in that case lying to receive the loans.
“Defendant and counsel fully intend to fight that case, for unlike the present matter, Andre Jackson simply did not know that his co-Defendants were up to,” Kish said.
Jackson’s lawyer asked the judge for a lesser prison sentence, pointing in part to how Jackson’s brother characterized him as someone who is too trusting “when it comes to moneymaking schemes.”
Kish also described him as a product of the foster care system who became “an otherwise honorable veteran of the military and law enforcement who wanted to make more money.”
“He was talked into a scheme and then turned a blind eye to fraud,” Kish said in court documents. “To make it worse, he involved his wife and friends. Being ashamed of what one has done is the first step at redemption.”
Jackson is no longer employed by the Clayton County Police Department.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Ex-cop ensnared Georgia police department coworkers in luxury car scam, feds say."
