Former Detroit City Council president
pleads guilty to sex crimes
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[October 27, 2016]
By Timothy Mclaughlin
(Reuters) - A former Detroit City Council
president pleaded guilty on Wednesday to charges stemming from a sexual
relationship with a teenage boy, according to his lawyer, capping the
three-year political downfall of the once-powerful local politician.
Charles Pugh, 45, pleaded guilty in a Detroit courthouse to two counts
of third-degree criminal sexual misconduct. Three more serious charges
of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carry maximum life prison
sentences, were dismissed, his lawyer, Delphia Burton, said by
telephone.
Pugh admitted to having a sexual relationship between 2003 and 2004 with
a boy who was then between the ages of 13 and 15, according to the plea
entered on Wednesday.
Pugh will be placed on a sex offender registry and is facing 5-1/2 to 15
years in prison as part of a sentencing agreement, Burton said. The
sentencing is set for Nov. 9.
Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Ralph Elizondo was not immediately
available for comment.
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The court identified Pugh's victim as Austin Williams, who has spoken
publicly about the case.
"This is justice because the most important thing is that people know
that he is a sexual predator," Williams told FOX 2.
Williams told FOX 2 that he met Pugh when the politician was working as
a news anchor for the channel in 2003 and that the two began a sexual
relationship shortly thereafter.
Pugh, who came out as gay in 2004, took office in 2010 in the wake of
the U.S. financial downturn, which hit Detroit hard.
A sharp dresser, Pugh had bold plans to turn around the cash-strapped
city, but he was stripped of his post and pay in 2013 after he missed
council meetings.
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![](../images/102716PICS/news_g15.jpg)
Detroit City Council president Charles Pugh listens to a council
member speak during a City Council meeting in Detroit, Michigan
January 20, 2012. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
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His decline continued that year when a local TV station raised
questions over his city council absences and cash gifts given to an
18-year-old male high school student.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Pugh fled Detroit in the middle
of the night for New York following the scandal and after a lengthy
trial agreed to pay $250,000 in April to the student for sexually
pursuing him when he was supposed to be acting as a mentor.
In June, according to court documents, a warrant for his arrest was
issued in Michigan on new charges. He was arrested in New York
before being sent back to Michigan to stand trial.
(Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; Editing by Lisa Von
Ahn)
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