Four months after resigning from her job amid a corruption probe, ex-Detroit Police Deputy Chief Celia Washington was indicted on conspiracy and bribery charges for her alleged role in a towing scandal.

Washington, who resigned in June after top brass at the Detroit Police Department learned she was under investigation by the FBI for her alleged ties to indicted towing titan Gasper Fiore, is charged with helping a towing operator secure contracts in exchange for bribes.

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Indicted ex-Detroit deputy police chief: 'I am livid ... I did not accept a bribe'

The indictment does not name the towing operator who paid the bribes. It only states that Washington would meet that owner in Detroit and "accept thousands of dollars in cash" from the owner.

"In exchange for the cash, Celia Washington would tell the owner she would use her official position as deputy chief of police to assist the owner with towing permits and rotation placement in the City of Detroit," the indictment states.

Washington adamantly denied the allegations.

"It's absolutely untrue," Washington told the Free Press in a phone interview. "I am livid ... I did not accept a bribe ... I have a stellar career for 20 years. I worked my butt off helping people."

Attorney Vincent Toussaint, who previously represented Washington, also has argued that she did not have the control over the towing operations that authorities allege she had.

"She had no power to change anything with regard to police authorized towing. It was the responsibility of the Board of Police Commissioners and DPD towing unit," Toussaint said in a previous statement. " Everything is supported by documents. Nothing changed with the rotation."

Said Detroit Police Chief James Craig in a statement: "This extremely troubling. It's certainly a betrayal, not only to the men and women of this police department and my office, but the citizens of this city.

Here, according to the indictment, is how Washington allegedly played favorites with a tower:

Washington knew that the tower had multiple towing companies on rotation at the DPD. This violated Detroit's towing rules, which prohibits towers from having more than one company in each police district or towing rotation. But Washington let the tower get away with it anyways, the indictment states.

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Washington, who served as the legal adviser to the Police Department, resigned June 8, one week after Fiore was indicted on bribery charges for allegedly paying cash bribes to win a towing contract in Clinton Township. Fiore's company, Boulevard & Trumbull, also had a contract with Detroit police, though it was suspended in June amid the probe.

According to sources familiar with the investigation, Washington — as DPD's legal adviser — oversaw Fiore's and others' towing rotations with the Detroit police. Last year, she recommended that DPD keep its towing rotation the same, which essentially saved Fiore a lot of business, the sources said.

Today's indictment details how Washington pulled off her alleged scam, stating the following:

In February 2016, Washington met with the towing operator and asked for money. The business owner obliged and gave her at least $3,000 in cash.

Two months later, Washington had a telephone conversation with the tower, in which she made sure the person would be able to meet a deadline that she was setting for the application for towing permits.

A week later, on May 6, the towing operator had a phone conversation with an associate and told that person that Washington wanted an e-mail sent to her personal address, specifying which towing rotations the tower wanted in Detroit.

That same day, the tower had a conversation with a relative who works for him. He instructed that relative to send Washington "the desired police precinct rotations" for his towing business.

The relative obliged and sent an e-mail to Washington with a police rotation request.

Washington came through.

On June 3, in a telephone conversation with the towing operator, Washington said she "did everything (she) could" to help the owner get "his towing business placed in the police precinct rotations that (he) wanted."

Today's indictment is part of a wide-sweeping public corruption investigation that focused primarily on Macomb County, triggering the demise of a garbage empire, landing two millionaires in federal court and charging 17 defendants with a slew of crimes.

Washington is the 17th person charged in the case, which surfaced almost exactly a year ago and triggered the demise of garbage empire Rizzo Environmental Services, landing its founders in federal court along with millionaire towing titan Fiore.

Deputy Detroit police chief resigns; tied to probe of indicted towing titan Gasper Fiore

The case started with the indictment of Clinton Township Trustee Dean Reynolds, 50, who is accused of helping Rizzo secure an $18-million contract extension — without going out to bid — in exchange for $50,000-plus in bribes and a free divorce lawyer. He is also charged with accepting bribes from Fiore in exchange for helping him secure a towing contract.

Fiore, whose Detroit-based Boulevard & Trumbull Towing business has been the subject of scrutiny for years, has also been charged in the case. Boulevard &Trumbull, which is now run by Fiore's daughters, lost its towing permit with the City of Detroit in June following Fiore's indictment.

Since the FBI disclosed the probe last fall, 10 defendants have cut deals. The defendants include an ex-lawyer, an engineering contractor, a former executive with Rizzo Environmental Services and six public officials.

Rizzo is now owned by Toronto-based GFL Environmental, which purchased the company in the fall of 2016, two weeks before the corruption scandal surfaced in federal court.

Rizzo Environmental Services had trash contracts in more than 50 communities across metro Detroit before being dissolved by its new owner.

Chuck Rizzo Jr. resigned amid the scandal last fall.

Among the allegations is that Chuck Rizzo Jr. and Fiore paid bribes to secure contracts in various municipalities. Rizzo Jr., his father and Fiore are also accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Rizzo garbage company while it was majority-owned by others and using some of the money to build Rizzo Jr.'s Bloomfield Township mansion.

Chuck Rizzo Jr., Chuck Rizzo Sr. and Fiore have pleaded not guilty and are free on bond.

Tresa Baldas can be reached at tbaldas@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @Tbaldas