FLINT — A metro Detroit businessman pleaded guilty Wednesday to a tax crime and admitted to an auto accident victim solicitation scheme that used illicit means to obtain police reports.

Jayson Rosett, 51, of Bloomfield Hills pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Flint as part of a deal with federal prosecutors. His father, Robert Rosett, 77, and two Detroit Police Department officers took similar plea deals for their involvement in the scheme that prosecutors say ran from at least July 2012 to April 2018.

Under the plea deal, Jayson Rosett admitted to owning and operating a Birmingham-based company called Accident Information Bureau that was in the business of collecting crash victims' information from police reports that had been illegally obtained from Detroit Police before they were publicly available.

Defendants Carol Almeranti, 59, and Karen Miller, 58, provided those DPD crash reports to the Rosetts in exchange for money that totaled more than $375,000, according to the plea agreement.

Jayson Rosett's company also solicited the accident victims and referred them to personal injury lawyers, chiropractors and other health care professionals.

The plea deal does not name any of the lawyers who took Rosett's patient referrals.

However, in a civil case in U.S. District Court against several medical centers, Allstate Insurance Co. claims that the law firm of high-profile personal injury attorney Mike Morse in Southfield frequently received police reports from Rosett to get leads for potential clients.

Allstate's lawsuit claims that Morse knew the police reports from Rosett had been illegally obtained because each page was stamped "Unapproved Report."

Morse has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

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Morse's attorney, I.W. Winsten, previously said that "There is no evidence that Morse knew his law office was given police reports that were improperly obtained by others ... None."

The Free Press could not reach Winsten for comment Wednesday afternoon and a Detroit Police Department representative did not return a message seeking comment.

Jayson Rosett's attorney, Ben Gonek, declined comment after the hearing.

In the civil case, Allstate says that Jayson Rosett also owns physical therapy clinics in addition to the police report collection business at the center of the criminal matter.

Allstate claims that Morse never directly paid Rosett for the "unapproved" police reports. Instead, Morse's law firm referred patients to Rosett's clinics and obtained settlements for the clinics in no-fault lawsuits, the insurer alleges.

Allstate also asserts that Morse, seeking payment for having referred clients to Rosett's clinics, told Rosett to pay $88,000 for contractors to build an addition to Morse's Huntington Woods house and $100,000 to go toward Morse's private jet.

State Farm Insurance made similar allegations last year in a separate lawsuit.

Morse's attorney has emphatically denied the insurance companies' allegations in court filings, claiming the Allstate and State Farm are attempting to publicly smear Morse.

Morse has updated his billboard and TV ads since State Farm's and Allstate's claims emerged, adding the slogan "Insurance companies hate us. Clients love us."

Jayson Rosett pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of conspiracy to defraud the IRS and one count to commit theft from an organization receiving federal funds, which was the Detroit Police Department. Both offenses are five-year felonies.

Under the plea deal, he could be sentenced later this year to up to 71 months in prison.

ContactJC Reindl at313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.