Tag: Michigan

1242: Matt Hall

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Matt Hall

Rep. Matt Hall is the Michigan State House Republican Leader and an active participant in the autogolpe for Trump. His rise to that position has drawn scrutiny on his past with allegations of threats and domestic violence, perhaps scrutiny that should have come much earlier in his career.

In 2001, he emailed death threats to another student. They are shocking. I wonder what he means by “your kind.” Not for nothing, he adds “The South with rise again.”

YOU BETTER NOT GO TO THE CHRISTMAS PARTY TOMORROW NIGHT! JUST A WORD OF ADVICE!! THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN AND WE DON’T LIKE YOUR KIND TREATING LADIES LIKE [redacted] WITHOUT DIGNITY. SHE IS A FINE LADY YOU DON’T NEED TO BE SAYING SHIT ABOUT HER! WE ARE GOING TO IMPOSE OUR SOUTHERN WAYS ON YOU! I’VE GOT A SHOTGUN RIFLE AND I JUST PUT A BULLET IN IT WITH YOUR NAME ON IT! In another, he told the student: “YOU HAD BETTER WATCH OUT!! WE DON’T LIKE YOUR KIND HERE IN WC! YOU WON’T FEEL VERY CROMBIE WHEN WE ARE DONE WITH YOU! BY YOU BLOCKING US ON IM WE ARE JUST MORE ANGRY!!! CLOSING TIME IS COMING SOON! BETTER SAY YOUR PRAYERS!!! STAY AWAY FROM [redacted]”
Michigan Live

More recently, in 2019, police were called out to a reported domestic violence incident and he was also accused of interfering in a 911 call. He was not charged. He and his girlfriend were taking her car to a sports betting place when he discovered he had not brought his money. Turning around to go back for it, she took a wrong turn. He began driving so fast she asked him to slow down, but he was worried he would not get his bets in on time. She tried to record him and he grabbed her phone out of her hands and smashed the screen. She called 911, he hung up and refused to answer when 911 called back.

When the police came to her house, they suggested she stay somewhere else for the night. She forwarded a couple recordings to them and they sent an arrest warrant request to the prosecutor’s office. However, the next day the woman said she did not want him prosecuted and that she overreacted to his fast driving.

The Daily Beast: Police Investigated MAGA Michigan Leader For Partner Violence
The Daily Beast: Police Investigated MAGA Michigan Leader For Partner Violence

1180: Ronald Van Overloop

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Ronald Van Overloop

Ronald Van Overloop was the pastor at the anti-gay Grace Protestant Reformed Church in Tallmadge Township, Ottawa County, Michigan. He was also an influential leader in the Protestant Reformed Church with his sermons and articles featured in the denomination’s publications and websites.

He was accused of inappropriate communications and touching of several minor girls in his congregation over several years. In a plea agreement, he pleaded guilty to one of the charges and was sentenced to forty-five days in jail.

Most of the complaints were past the statute of limitations, adult women describing his abused during their childhood that left them with guilt, shame, and trauma. One claimed to get panic attacks at church. They add described similar behavior, touching himself while touching them, having them sit on his lap, stroking their thighs, talking about sex with them, and giving them long, close hugs. They thought they would not be believed,

He denied their claims, his lawyer said they misunderstood his actions, made “a mountain out of a molehill,” and argued that his humiliation and loss of his pastoral position was more than enough punishment. The judge, aware that this deal applied to only one of several allegations, remarked that once could be a misunderstanding, but not when so many allegations are made. In a statement to the Court, Van Overloop said he was sorry for the harm to the church and said he had written apology letters to the church. No mention of apologizing to the women whom he molested when they were teens.

October 10, 2022 | Holland Sentinel, The (MI)
Author/Byline: Rachel Van Gilder
Former pastor jailed for abusing teen girl at - Holland Sentinel, The (MI) - October 10, 2022 - page 1 October 10, 2022 | Holland Sentinel, The (MI) | Rachel Van Gilder TALLMADGE TWP. — A former pastor at a church near Walker is serving jail time for inappropriately touching a teenage girl, one of several similar complaints against him, according to court records. Ronald VanOverloop, 73, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery and was sentenced to 45 days in the Ottawa County Jail and a $350 fine. Authorities say the abuse happened at the parsonage at Grace Protestant Reformed Church on Eighth Avenue NW near Lake Michigan Drive in Tallmadge Township between 2009 and 2012. It was reported in June 2021. The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office says VanOverloop had inappropriate conversations with a teenage girl and touched her inappropriately. The victim is one of several who came forward. There were a number of allegations of VanOverloop inappropriately touching other teen girls, including long hugs, having them sit on his lap, kissing them and having inappropriate discussions about sex with them. One complainant said he touched her upper thigh. In one case, someone reported VanOverloop touching himself while talking to her. One complainant, now grown, said that for years, she avoided going to authorities because members of the church had been discouraged from reporting abuse, saying such complaints should be dealt with by the church. Another told investigators she was afraid no one would believe her if she said he was making her uncomfortable. The police report says that when the Grace Board of Elders asked VanOverloop about the allegations in the summer of 2021, he denied them. He was ultimately fired. VanOverloop was booked into the Ottawa County Jail on Sept. 8, the day he was sentenced. "…(I stood up) not only for myself, but for all the other girls and women who have been victimized by Mr. VanOverloop but are not able to find their justice or closure through the court system because of the statute of limitations," the victim said at the sentencing, according to a transcript. "Some of them endured much more than I did at the hands of this man." She said VanOverloop has not taken responsibility for his actions. "Mr. VanOverloop's denial of the pain and harm that he's caused and dragging this court case out for over nearly a year now has been devastating for myself and other women who were victimized by him," she said. "Rather than own up to what he has done and the harm he has caused, he maintains the accusations against him are false, or that situations were just misinterpreted…" VanOverloop's attorney Josh Kuiper supports that claim. "I don't want to minimize what her claim is, but here I think, to a certain extent, we're making a mountain out of a molehill," Kuiper told the court, according to the transcript. "These touches that happened, if it weren't for an announcement at church, I don't think anyone would have thought anything about them, that they were assaultive in nature." He argued that with VanOverloop's "public humiliation" and the loss of his job, he had suffered enough. The judge disagreed, saying that one report may have been the result of misinterpretation but reports from other victims showed a different story. Subscribe:Get all your breaking news and unlimited access to our local coverage When given the chance to speak, VanOverloop said he had repeatedly apologized in letters to the elders of his church. "Every sin against God comes with a sense — a great sense of guilt and shame," he said, the transcript shows. "And I've carried that ever since this began." Copyright 2022, The Holland Sentinel, All Rights Reserved.

1100: Joseph “Oakman” Golinske

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Joseph Charles “Oakman” Golinske has been active in the Michigan Proud Boys and other white nationalist organizations. You can find pictures of him at various violent protests and wiht notorious white nationalists such a Nick Fuentes and Enrique Tarrio.

He has also been convicted of sexually abusing children in Michigan and Florida. The child in Michigan was under 13 but he pled down to 2 counts with a child under 17. He was charged in 2019 and in a plea deal that changed the age from 13 to 17. Incredibly, he was given two years probation in October 2022. Under the terms of his probation he was to avoid being with child, not allowed to date someone with children, not go to parks where there are children, and so on. So he moved to Florida and was arrested and pled guilty in a plea agreement in about six weeks with probation again in December 2022.

The Florida child was under 16.

821: Tudor Dixon

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Tudor Dixon was the Michigan Republican nominee for governor. She was asked if she would support an abortion exception for a 14-year-old girl who was impregnated by rape. She would not. In fact, she believes that forcing a 14-year-old girl to carry a rapist’s baby to term may be healing. She claims she knows this by spending time with children of rape and that the mother-child bond would be healing.

Detroit News, The (MI)
November 14, 2022
Continued

795: Kevin Rinke

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Kevin Rinke is a former auto dealer who changed careers in 2009 and began working for an organization that works to rehabilitate people with traumatic brain injuries. He ran in the Republican primary for Michigan governor. He came in second with 21.5% of the Republican vote. He says he will run again. This is despite the many allegations of sexual harassment from people who worked with him.

Four employees sued in 1992 when he worked at the car dealership and long before he had political aspirations. They alleged that Rinke repeatedly made vulgar, rude, and sexual remarks to men and women. Rinke said it was all false, but he settled with them. He’s alleged to have said women shouldn’t be allowed to work because they are too ignorant and stupid. But the outstanding comment is that he has “golden” genitals.

In a separate suit, a Black employee sued for racist abuse and harassment and gave examples.

1 GOP candidate unscathed in Dems' ad Detroit Free Press Detroit, Michigan · Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Detroit Free Press
Detroit, Michigan · Wednesday, June 15, 2022

782: Tony Cutler

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Tony Cutler was the director of the Sault Ste. Marie Downtown Development Association, a teacher, and an unsuccessful candidate for Michigan State House of Representatives. He was charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor, a boy who was sixteen at the time. He moved to get his case dismissed, but the judge refused. However, she did reduce the charges from 2nd to 4th degree, from felonies to misdemeanors.

On June 28, 2023, when he was scheduled for trial, he pled no contest with the same penalty as a guilty plea. This was agreed to because Cutler was being sued in civil court.

On Sept 22, 2023, he was sentenced to three months in jail.

Tony Cutler bound over to court on two - Charlevoix Courier (MI) - August 5, 2022 - page A1 August 5, 2022 | Charlevoix Courier (MI) | Annie Doyle; The Petoskey News-Review | Page A1 CHARLEVOIX — Tony Cutler, former Sault Ste. Marie DDA director, teacher and local political candidate, is headed to trial in Charlevoix County Circuit Court for his alleged inappropriate behavior with an underaged boy. In a written decision obtained by the Courier this week, Charlevoix County's 90th District Court Judge Angela Lasher concluded that probable cause had been established that two offenses of criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree were committed by Cutler. Unless a plea deal is reached, a trial date will most likely be set within the next few months, according to officials from Circuit Court Judge Roy C. Hayes III's office. Cutler was arrested May 10 surrounding events with a then-16-year-old boy in June and July 2021 and is currently out on a $20,000 bond with the condition that he has no contact with minors, according to court documents. Judge Lasher's decision comes nearly a month after a preliminary examination was held on June 28 to determine whether enough evidence existed to send the case to trial. At the time, the alleged victim testified to being the recipient of Cutler's inappropriate text messages and being made to feel uncomfortable by comments Cutler made at their place of work — Boyne City's Lake Street Pub — and while speaking to Cutler on the phone. A situation was also described in the kitchen at the Lake Street Pub in which Cutler's hand "grazed" below the belt of the victim twice within a short period of time.
Charlevoix Courier (MI) – August 5, 2022 – page A1
The decision this week fell short of the recommendation from Special Prosecuting Attorney James Linderman that Cutler be charged with two counts of second degree criminal sexual conduct, one count of assault with intent to commit sexual conduct and one count of using a computer to commit a crime. Second-degree criminal sexual conduct is a felony offense in Michigan with a maximum 15-year prison sentence and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct is a misdemeanor with the possible statutory punishment for a conviction that includes up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $500, according to michigancriminallawyer.com. In explanation of her conclusion, Lasher said that all of the necessary aggravating factors required for second degree criminal sexual conduct hadn't been met. She wrote that "probable cause has been established that two separate acts of sexual contact occurred" during the incident in the kitchen and "that the acts were accomplished with force or coercion ... by surprising the victim and touching (him), the defendant was able to accomplish the act without regard to the victim's wishes." However, she did not find that a personal injury had been demonstrated according to case law, and concluded in her analysis, "(the victim) testified that he was initially uncomfortable, then had fear, anxiety, cried and became quick to anger. While these are real and serious emotions, this court must follow the decisions and definitions developed by case law and finds that mental anguish has not been sufficiently demonstrated by the prosecution." In addition, Lasher wrote she was "not persuaded" by the prosecution's argument that "a computer was used to accomplish the actual perpetration of the alleged criminal sexual conduct," via the text messages that occurred between the minor and the defendant. Special Prosecuting Attorney Linderman was contacted for comment but did not respond in time for publication.

700: Garrett Soldano

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Garrett Soldano, a candidate in the Michigan Republican primary for governor in 2022, opposes abortion and opposes exceptions for rape or incest. He thinks women who are raped and become pregnant should feel inspired that God put them in that situation. Who knows? They could be carrying the next president. As he put it, we need to “defend the DNA.” Yes, he is committed to defending rapists’ DNA.

673: Lee Chatfield

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Lee Chatfield is a former state representative in Michigan. He was Speaker of the Michigan House from 2019-2021 and was one of the legislators who met with Donald Trump after the election, though in the end he did not advocate trying to overturn the state results. He was term-limited and did not run for another office.

In January, 2022, the news broke that he was being investigated for the sexual abuse of a young girl beginning when she was fourteen and continuing for twelve years. The abuse is alleged to have started when she attended his church and the associated school where he was a gym teacher. When the girl turned 18, she married Chatfield’s brother and the relationship between Chatfield and his sister-in-law continued until 2021 when she went to the police.

Chatfield claims they had a consensual affair. There is no legal consent when someone is fourteen.

A judge has blocked media access to the investigation affidavits, etc.

Limits eyes on blocking Chatfield probe info Detroit Free Press Detroit, Michigan · Friday, December 02, 2022

666: Matthew Smith

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Matthew Smith was the Chair of the Genesee County Republicans. He made a threatening phone call to a Democratic county employee named Jennifer Kelly. He threatened to kill her dog. He said a friend was running against Kelly. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced under a program for youth that allows him to have nothing on his record when completed.

Genesee County GOP Chair Matthew Smith sentenced to community service under guilty plea Mic Michign Now
Mid-Michigan Now
Judge Crawford has accepted Matthew Smith to Holmes Youthful Trainee Act, allowing him not to be convicted of a crime after pleading guilty to malicious use of telecommunication services. RELATED LINK: Gen. Co. GOP Chair Matthew Smith pleads guilty to malicious use of telecommunication According to court documents, in March of 2020, Smith allegedly called the Houghton County Clerk and threatened to poison her dogs. Smith’s attorney Dennis Lazar says that his client has not been convicted of a crime, but will have to go through a probationary period under the judges guidelines for Smith to be applied to the HYTA.
Under the law of the HYTA, "...the court of record having jurisdiction of the criminal offense may, without entering a judgment of conviction and with the consent of that individual, consider and assign that individual to the status of youthful trainee." Therefore, by Judge Crawford's acceptance of the status, Smith is not convicted of a crime, but will have probationary stipulations. Smith will have to pay fines and costs back to the court, do more than 200 hours of community service, and write 1,000 essay on the matter for Judge Crawford to read. RELATED LINK: Allegations of fraudulent signature on recall petition for Davison school board member It is unclear if that essay will be made public upon completion.
The Committee For School Board Integrity issues the following statement on Matthew Smith, who is also a Davison School Board member. It reads in part: Judge Crawford said today that Matthew has to dig himself out of this hole. The parents of his district, who are exhausted with his nonsense, would like to again demand that he start by resigning from our children's school board so he can complete his cognitive awareness training, community service and his 1000 word essay on the impact of political bullying in America.

658: John Bizon 

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John Bizon is a doctor who served as President of the Michigan State Medical Society. He was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives and served two terms before running for Michigan State Senate in 2018. He did not run for re-election in 2022 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor assault and battery charges. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year’s probation, a mental health treatment program, and is required to pay court costs and fines.

He was seen by a nurse practicioner whose recommendation he disliked, he put his arm around her waist, pulled her against his body and squeezed. Another nurse grabbed her arm while she was taking his vitals and said she was raising his blood pressure.

State Sen. Bizon faces assault charges Lansing State Journal 16 Nov 2021, Tue ·
Lansing State Journal
16 Nov 2021, Tue ·