Retired Airport Exec Accused of Pension Double-Dipping

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PLYMOUTH, MI - The retired chief operating officer of the Wayne County Airport Authority faces felony larceny charges after he allegedly double-dipped on his pension and illegally collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from the county’s troubled pension plan.

Wayne County Attorney Kym Worthy said in a statement Wednesday that Daniel Ogden Kerber, 66, of Plymouth, has been charged with one count of larceny by false pretenses in an amount of $100,000 or greater, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and one count of larceny by conversion of over $20,000, which has a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

Worthy’s office alleges Kerber committed pension fraud while working for the airport authority. He allegedly was allowed to switch from a defined pension plan with the Wayne County Retirement System, to a plan that would allow him to receive a pension.

Worthy’s office said Kerber began collecting monthly pension payments of nearly $11,340 a month when he retired on Sept. 1, 2009, after authorizing the transfer of defined contribution assets of $340,166, held by Prudential, to the Wayne County Retirement System.

Prosecutors allege that on April 27, 2011, Kerber asked Prudential to issue a $277,481.40 check for retirement funds under the original defined pension plan. An employee of the Wayne County Retirement System approved the request, and the funds were subsequently deposited into Kerber’s credit union account.

Retirement system employees didn’t discover the alleged fraud until April 2015, nearly four years later, when they notified the prosecutor’s office.

Worthy said the case “is the ultimate example of why the Wayne County Retirement System is not properly funded.”

“The alleged facts in this case will show that the defendant’s greed allowed him to net hundreds of thousands of dollars he was not entitled to, all while he received over $11,000 a month in a pension from the county,” Worthy said in the statement.

Kerber is expected to be arraigned on the charges at 9 a.m. Thursday in 36th District Court in Plymouth.