The Dexter Leader
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Trustee's role play a federal offense
By Sandi Kashaand Edward Freundl, Heritage Newspapers
PUBLISHED: April 12, 2007
Dexter Township Trustee Marcia Ottoman was arrested and arraigned Tuesday on a federal charge of impersonating a U.S. Justice Department official.
Advertisement
An arrest warrant was issued Monday and Ottoman, 43, a Chelsea resident, surrendered to the FBI on Tuesday morning.
Court documents allege that Ottoman committed a federal offense of falsely assuming or pretending to be an assistant U.S. attorney.
She was arraigned on that charge Tuesday afternoon before a federal magistrate in Detroit.
She was released on $10,000 unsecured bond, and a preliminary hearing was set for April 30.
"This type of conduct by an individual impersonating a federal official undermines the public's trust and confidence in the criminal justice system and will not be tolerated," said Andrew G. Arena, FBI Special Agent in Charge following the arraignment.
According to an affidavit filed by Special Agent James Brennan of the FBI's Ann Arbor office, Ottoman used the name of Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Varner in a letter she wrote to her in-laws, Joe and Dorothy Ottoman, in an attempt to have tenants evicted from a home owned by the couple.
Marcia Ottoman sought the assistance of Ypsilanti-based attorney John Forczak to deliver the letter to the tenants.
According to the affidavit, Ottoman told Forczak that she is friends with Varner and that he was reportedly pursuing drug charges, illegal immigration and other federal violations against the tenants.
Forczak contacted the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department seeking an escort to the property to deliver the letter.
Upon reading the bogus letter the deputy sensed that something was not right and turned it over to the FBI, said Cmdr. Dave Egeler, Sheriff's Department public information officer.
"The deputy knew that the letter was false and didn't read like something a U.S. attorney would write," Egeler said.
When the FBI interviewed Varner via telephone Dec. 18 and 19, he said that he didn't know Ottoman and couldn't provide any explanation regarding the letter she purportedly wrote under his name.
Ottoman admitted to the FBI Dec. 19 that she created the letter and also sent e-mails to Forczak pretending she was Varner.
Ottoman had created a false e-mail account through Yahoo! on Oct. 11, 2006, according to the affidavit.
News of Ottoman's arrest took Dexter Township officials by surprise.
"At this point you have as much information as I have," Clerk Harley Rider said Tuesday afternoon. "I understand the basic charges, but I haven't seen anything official.
"I certainly wasn't expecting it."
Rider said neither Ottoman nor anyone representing her had contacted the township office.
Supervisor Pat Kelly said that she knew an investigation had been initiated, but that was all.
"I wasn't aware an arrest was imminent," she said.
Even with a federal indictment there is little the township board can do, Kelly said, because the allegations do not involve Ottoman's responsibilities as an elected official.
"The board itself can't get rid of anybody," Kelly said. "If she's convicted she might be removed from the board, but the state would have to do that."
Forczak said Ottoman has retained a criminal attorney from Oakland County for this matter.
"I'm aware there was a warrant issued for her," Forczak said. "I act as her attorney on a number of civil matters, but I do not represent her in this matter."
One of the renters who was the target of the allegedly forged documents declined to comment for this story.
Messages left at Marcia Ottoman's home and with her family were not returned by presstime.
Sandi Kasha and Edward Freundl are reporters for Heritage Newspapers. She can be reached at 475-1371 or skasha@heritage.com; and he can be reached at 428-8173 or efreundl@heritage.com.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
TOP JOBS
