Robert Allen and Steven Pepple

Detroit Free Press

DETROIT — Four years ago, Michigan State Trooper Seth Swanson was hailed as a hero after he saved the life of a young girl he pulled from the wreckage of her family's car on I-75 after a blinding snow squall caused a multivehicle pileup.

Now he's been stripped of his job and is headed to jail.

Swanson, 31, of Royal Oak was sentenced Tuesday to a year in jail after pleading guilty to two felony charges "related to pocketing over $170,000 in salvage vehicle inspection fees," according to online court records and a news release from state Attorney General Bill Schuette's office.

Swanson spent the money on vacations, paying down credit card debt and getting multiple plastic surgeries, Schuette's office said in a news release.

Swanson made national news in 2013 when the Detroit Free Press wrote about how he used a hammer to smash the window of a car involved in a freeway pileup in Detroit and pulled out an unconscious 10-year-old girl. He had already checked the pulses of the girl's younger sister and brother and found nothing.

"It was the hardest decision I've had to make on the job," he told a reporter at the time. "Whoever you can help, you help them."

Swanson cleared the 10-year-old girl's airway, placed a resuscitation mask over her mouth and nose and gave her several rescue breaths. The girl took a deep breath and started screaming. He held her head and neck until the ambulances arrived.

Swanson was 27 and a four-year veteran of the state police at the time of the Jan. 31, 2013, crash on I-75.

About 19 months later, Swanson had begun pocketing money from salvage vehicle inspections he conducted as a state trooper, according to the Attorney General's Office.

A joint investigation by the state police and the FBI revealed that between about August 2014 and December 2015, Swanson conducted 1,701 salvage vehicle inspections and pocketed more than $170,000, taking people's cash while forging the Secretary of State documents, according to the news release. He had been a state-certified salvage vehicle inspector since 2011.

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A salvage title is issued for a car or truck deemed a "distressed vehicle" — often after it's been involved in a serious crash — and it cannot be plated or used on public roads until it's re-certified by a specially trained police officer and re-titled, according to the news release. People seeking a clean title fill out a form and pay a cash fee.

"The form, once completed and signed by a certified police officer, permitted the holder to obtain a good and valid State of Michigan motor vehicle title for the subject vehicle," according to the news release.

State law requires part of the fees be used to fight auto thefts. Part of the purpose of the inspections is to detect stolen cars and car parts.

Swanson used the pocketed money for personal credit card debt, vacations, multiple plastic surgeries and for home improvements for himself and his family, according to the news release.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Wendy Potts sentenced Swanson to one year in the county jail, with five years of probation on a charge of felony embezzlement by a public official. He received 12 months of probation, with the first 30 days served in jail, on a felony count of uttering and publishing.

"Today's sentencing shows even those who are trusted to uphold the law are not above it," Schuette said.