A Miami-Dade police officer was arrested Thursday after federal prosecutors say he wrote up fake police reports on nonexistent identity thefts, in order to help credit repair companies scrub their customers' credit histories clean in exchange for kickbacks.

Rafael Duran, 43, of Miami, appeared in court Thursday after being indicted and arrested on fraud charges over the alleged scheme. He is set to be arraigned April 16 and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Duran is accused in the indictment of participating in a scheme to draw up fake police reports for people running credit repair companies -- falsely claiming that the companies' customers had been victims of identity theft so that troublesome items in their credit histories would be removed.

In exchange, Duran was getting kickbacks and other payment from the companies, including their credit repair services, prosecutors say.

A spokesperson for Miami-Dade police could not immediately be reached. Information on a lawyer for Duran was not immediately available.