Category: Sex Crimes
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Rape Kit Backlog Testing Closes Two Connected Cold Cases
Anthony Thornton, a 46-year-old resident of Detroit, has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual assault. The arrest is the result of two separate cold cases that were never solved as a result of rape kits that were never processed. According to police records, the first incident took place on April…
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Former Teacher Sentenced To Prison For Relationship With Student
32-year-old Jamee Hiatt, a former Leslie Public Schools elementary teacher, has been sentenced to prison for having a long-standing sexual relationship with a 14-year-old middle school student. Leslie is a small community in Jackson County, Michigan. Court records show that Hiatt, who was previously employed at the Leslie Middle School, was arrested on…
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CMU Student Accused of Exchanging Sexual Texts With 12 Year Old
Brendan Baia, a 19-year-old former student at Central Michigan University, is facing criminal charges for allegedly exchanging sexual text messages with a 12-year-old girl. Court documents reveal that all of the alleged text exchanges took place in August of this year. According to police records, the interactions were initially discovered by the girl’s…
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Suspected ‘Serial Rapist’ Arrested in Dearborn, MI
Ikeie Ranordo Smith is the man police say was behind dozens of sexual assaults that took place in Wayne County, Michigan. He has been arrested and is being held, but the investigation is continuing, with allegations of 35 separate instances of home invasion and rape on record so far. According to police, the…
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Grand Rapids Man Accused of Trying to Purchase Children
A 29-year-old man from Grand Rapids, Michigan is accused of trying to purchase children for the purposes of sexual assault. Police say that the assaults hadn’t happened yet when they arrested him, but he was prepared for them. According to police, the Kent County man named Riggs attempted to purchase children online in…
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Michigan Woman Awarded $500K in Revenge Porn Case
A Michigan woman whose identity has not been released to the public, has made headlines because of the outcome of her civil lawsuit resulting from revenge porn. Although her attorney refused to divulge her identifying information, he did say that her former boyfriend lives in Macomb County, MI and that she is happy with…
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More Details on Sex Crimes of Berrien County Courthouse Shooter
The shooting of two security staff that took place at the Berrien County Courthouse in early July received national media attention. It was a tragic event leaving two courthouse bailiffs dead, two others wounded. The shooter himself is dead, having been shot by responding Berrien police officers. 45-year-old Larry Darnell Gordon, the shooter who…
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Michigan’s New ‘Revenge Porn’ Law
If you have been following our previous posts, you will know that there was a bill in the works for quite a while that addressed the issue of “revenge porn.” Well after months of consideration, having passed both the Michigan House and the Senate, Lt. Gov. Brian Calley signed SB 924 and 925 into…
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Stuart Dunnings Accepts Plea in Prostitution Case
Stuart Dunnings III, the former Ingham County Prosecutor, has accepted a plea offer in the ongoing prostitution and human trafficking case against him. He appeared this afternoon in the Ingham County Court before Jackson County District Judge Michael Klaeren, where he admitted to having paid for sexual services. The case has been overseen by…
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Officer Accused of Post Arrest Sex Assault
Erich Fritz, a former officer with the Covert Police Department in Van Buren County, is accused of sexually assaulting someone after a drunk driving arrest. Fritz had apparently only been an officer with that force for two months before these allegations were made. Fritz resigned from the police department. According to Detective Sergeant…