A 25-year Cass County sheriff’s deputy has been charged faces felony charges for allegedly staging a car-deer crash then lying about it in a police report so a friend could collect insurance money for a new car.
Steven Thomas Keene, 48, of Dowagiac, is charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, insurance fraud, tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice, Kalamazoo County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Carrie Klein said.
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Klein’s office has been assigned to the case because of Keen’s status as a law enforcement officer in Cass County. Keene also works part time for the police department in Cass County’s Silver Creek Township.
The charges against Keene, which were authorized May 20 by prosecutors, stem from an investigation done by the Southwest Commercial Auto Recovery Unit, a multi-jurisdictional auto theft team.
Klein said the charges of insurance fraud and tampering with evidence stem from incidents alleged to have occurred in February and March.
“The idea was (his friend) wanted a new car, wasn’t going to get much in return if she simply sold the car she had, so the two of them worked together to stage a one-car accident and make it look as if they could get the insurance payout and go get her a new car,” Klein said of the allegations.
Keene’s Kalamazoo attorney, Mike Hills, declined to comment for this report, citing the ongoing case. “We’re at the beginning of this thing,” Hills said.
The felony complaint authorized by prosecutors in May alleges that Keene committed insurance fraud by preparing “an oral or written statement knowing or believing that it would be presented by or to an insurer or an agent of an insurer, knowing that it contained false information concerning a fact material to an insurance claim …” or by helping (his friend) to commit insurance fraud “by preparing a false State of Michigan Traffic Crash Report and/or staging a ficticious car/deer accident …”
Klein said the obstruction of justice charge stems from allegations that, in a separate incident, Keene “was aware of someone else who had committed a crime and he was involved in trying to obscure the proof to help that individual out.” The complaint charges, specifically, that Keene provided “inaccurate, incomplete, misleading information to police” about a Feb. 5 motor vehicle crash involving another driver.
Asked whether others may face charges from the investigation conducted by Michigan State Police, Cass County Prosecutor Victor Fitz said only that “other individuals are being investigated.”
Prosecutors said some of the charges against Keene stem from incidents that are alleged to have occurred while he was on duty as a police officer.
Cass County Sheriff Joseph Underwood Jr. said his understanding is the offenses alleged to have occurred while Keene was on duty occurred while he was working his part-time job with the Silver Creek Township Police Department.
“He was not on duty working for the Cass County Sheriff’s Office,” Underwood said.
Underwood said Keene was suspended without pay from the sheriff’s office March 18 after the sheriff received preliminary information from state police about their investigation. He said Keene will remain suspended without pay pending completion of an internal investigation of the allegations brought forth by MSP.
Underwood confirmed that Keene was booked into the Cass County Jail on the felony charges last week and was released on a $10,000 cash/surety bond.
Keene is scheduled to be back in Cass County District Court on June 20 for a probable-cause hearing on evidence against him.
If convicted, Keene could face up to 10 years in prison and/or a $50,000 fine for conspiracy to commit insurance fraud, the most serious charge against him.
Insurance fraud, tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice are punishable by maximum prison sentences of four to five years.
