VBT police reports show how Shores scammed VB Urgent Care

On May 24, 34th District Court Judge David Parrott accepted a plea agreement for former Van Buren Township fire fighter Michael Ray Shores that dismissed seven of the eight charges against him.
The final charge of larceny by conversion, to which he pled no contest, will be dismissed after 12 months if he stays out of trouble. He also had to pay back the $200 he took from Van Buren Urgent Care.
During the court session, Shores was not asked to tell what happened and Judge Parrott quietly read the police report to himself before using it to accept the plea arrangement.
Shores’ retained attorney Michael Vincent said his client was pleading no contest to the charge, instead of guilty, for fear of civil liability.
Shores had been charged with eight misdemeanor charges for taking money from Van Buren Urgent Care to update employee skills in cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and first aid so they could meet employment standards.
The Independent filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get the details of the incident.
Sonya Ingle, manager of Van Buren Urgent Care, 11650 Belleville Road, said she was directed to VBT Police Sgt. Marc Abdilla by a mutual friend in January.
She said that earlier in the year 2016, she made contact with VBT Fire Marshal David McInally at the VBT Fire Department. She said she was looking for someone in the fire department who could recertify some of her staff in first aid and CPR.
She said McInally directed her to Shores, who also was an employee of the fire department. Shores is a certified American Heart Association Instructor for first aid and CPR who teaches for the fire department. Ingle said she emailed Shores who then called her while she was working at the Urgent Care, which she believed to be in May 2016.
She told police that Shores came into the Urgent Care on June 16, 2016 wearing what she described as a VBT job shirt, clearly marked with the VBT Fire Department patch and lettering.
She said when Shores arrived he had her sign a class roster with all her staff members’ names and addresses that needed recertifying and new cards. She gave him the roster and at no time did he ask her employees to take a test, read over any material, watch any videos, or perform any practical exercises to test their knowledge or abilities.
Ingle said he was there probably 10 minutes total and she wrote to him checks from VB Urgent Care, one for $150 and another for $50, after she added more employees to the list, which needed recertifying. She said she paid him a total of $200 in business checks that were written to him personally.
Ingle said he took the money and advised her that he would return in a week to drop off the employee cards to her. She said several months passed and he returned with the cards sometime in August. She said Shores said he forgot about the cards and they fell between the seats of his truck. He said his son found them between the seats and that is when he brought them to her.
She said when she received the cards two of her employees’ names were spelled wrong on the cards. She said Shores took the cards back and said he would have them fixed and return them ASAP. Ingle stated as of Jan. 8, 2017, she had yet to receive the cards or even hear from Shores.
She said the reason she contacted the VBT Fire Department and needed recertification was because the cards and knowledge are a vital part and requirement of her staff’s employment. She was very upset and decided to file a police report because what occurred is not right and something is wrong with this incident she was involved in.
She told Sgt. Abdilla there was no doubt in her mind that the Van Buren Township Fire Department and its representative was going to be giving her employees the training. She thought writing the checks directly to Shores was part of the fire department’s process.
Ingle said she believes Shores’ conduct was very unprofessional and she said he was “hitting on her” on the phone when he first called and then was “hitting in her” even more when he arrived in person. She told Sgt. Abdilla that he was “a creep” because of his behavior towards her.
Ingle said she was very upset because her office was recently audited by an insurance company and she was very lucky they only looked at her CPR-First Aid card which was up to date. If they looked at her other employees’ cards, her office and employees would have been charged with thousands of dollars in fines for something she paid Shores for.
VBT Police Lt. Charles Bazzy continued the investigation into the alleged fraud. He contacted Jacob Offerman from the Livingston County EMS and advised him of the fraud investigation regarding Shores. Lt. Bazzy asked Offerman for paperwork filed by Shores for Shores’ July 6, 2016 class and Offerman emailed the paperwork.
Lt. Bazzy interviewed Shores on Jan. 16 and Shores denied he was in uniform when he went to Van Buren Urgent Care. Shores told Lt. Bazzy he met with each of the women listed on the roster and discussed the required skills for healthcare provider CPR. He said it was only a 10-minute review with the women. He said because it was recertification, he was not required to teach a full class. He said they talked through the knowledge and he was convinced they had the knowledge because they already had CPR skills. Shores said he also had them tell him compression rates and depth of compressions.
Ingle told Lt. Bazzy that none of the employees ever met with Shores and, in fact, one was out on medical leave. Another employee said she never met Shores and doesn’t even know what he looks like.
Lt. Bazzy interviewed a Belleville Reserve Police Officer who said he told Shores that he needed to get CPR training around the second week of July 2016, prior to starting the Police Reserve Academy on July 27. He stated that several weeks later he met Shores at Shores’ primary place of employment where he was given a CPR certification card. The reserve officer said he received no training and paid no money for the card. He said the last time he was certified for CPR was when he graduated from high school in 2006.
Lt. Bazzy found a class roster for July 6, 2016 presented by Shores to Livingston County EMS. The documents were 1 and 2 person Rescuer Infant BLS Skills Testing Sheet and 1 and 2 Rescuer Adult BLS with AED Skills Testing Sheet, which employees said were fraudulent because they never attended any class by Shores.
Lt. Bazzy asked, but Livingston County EMS declined to represent the American Heart Association in this matter.
Lt. Bazzy then contacted The American Heart Association and it agreed to cooperate with the investigation and prosecution of the case. Lt. Bazzy sent them a copy of the card – a Basic Life Support (BLS) CPR card — issued to the reserve officer.
Montra Valle, manager of quality and risk management for the emergency cardiovascular care programs for the American Heart Association, headquartered in Dallas, told Lt. Bazzy that Shores is not a BLS instructor. He is a Heart Smart instructor only.
Valle said Shores would have been ineligible to teach those employees, since she learned they are either medical assistants, Emergency Medical Technicians, First Responders or nursing students. Heart Smart instructors can only instruct civilians and non-emergency/medical personnel, she said.
That’s when Lt. Bazzy prepared the warrant request for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office and listed the American Heart Association as a complainant, along with Van Buren Urgent Care.