Ex-clerk, acquaintance accept responsibility in ticket bribes case

DETROIT (AP) - A former Detroit court clerk and a longtime acquaintance who authorities say took about $20,000 in bribes to dismiss more than $40,000 in traffic tickets and fines have accepted responsibility in the case. The office of Michigan's attorney general says Annette Bates, an ex-36th District Court clerk, and Charles Fair pleaded guilty to forgery. A judge last Friday ordered Bates to serve four years of probation and pay $10,000 in restitution. Fair's sentencing is March 14. Charges last year followed an investigation involving Attorney General Bill Schuette's office and the FBI's public corruption task force. Schuette says over a two-year period the Detroit residents forged dismissals of traffic tickets, fines and citations in the name of 36th District Court judges. Schuette's office says the judges weren't aware of the dismissals. Published: Tue, Feb 16, 2016