He was tough on crime including prostitution. And he is tough on blind and
disabled people trying to attend their own ADA celebration at our state capitol
Am going to yet another conference 70 miles away today for the crime of
attempting to pass out leaflets and chant on the State Capitol grounds.
What an outrage.
Ingham County Prosecutor Dunnings plans to resign Chad Livengood, Detroit News
Lansing Bureau Lansing ' Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III, who
faces multiple criminal charges of engaging with prostitutes, has placed
himself on three months paid medical leave and plans to resign from office July
2. In a letter sent Tuesday to Ingham County officials, Dunnings said he would
be taking a medical leave of absence until July 1 and then tender his
resignation
from office the following the day. Dunnings, 63, has been off the job for two
weeks after being arrested and charged with 15 criminal counts for allegedly
having sex with hundreds of prostitutes between 2010 and 2015. Attorney General
Bill Schuette also has charged Dunnings with one count of pandering ' a
felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison ' for convincing one woman to
become a prostitute. Because he is a countywide elected official, Dunnings
is free to take as much paid time off as he wants, Ingham County Commission
Chairwoman Kara Hope said. 'He can call it medical leave or whatever he wants
and he can collect his paycheck and commissioners are powerless to do anything
about it,' Hope said Tuesday. Dunnings, a Democrat, is paid $132,075 annually
and would collect more than $33,000 over the three-month medical leave period
he intends to take. 'I don't know why he's doing it that way,' Hope said
of Dunnings' delayed resignation. In addition to resigning on July 2, Dunnings
said he won't be seeking re-election this year after nearly 20 years in
office. 'This will further notify you that I will not be filing the necessary
paperwork to run as an incumbent for the office of Prosecuting Attorney,'
Dunnings wrote in the letter to Hope, Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum and Chief
Circuit Court Judge Janelle Lawless. 'It has been an honor a privilege to
serve the citizens of Ingham County as Prosecuting Attorney. After Dunnings
resigns, the Ingham County Circuit Court judges will get to select an interim
prosecutor to serve out the remainder of Dunnings' term this year, Hope said.
Dunnings recently checked himself into a residential treatment facility in
Tennessee for an unspecified reasons, according to court filings . A federal
probe of a human trafficking ring led state and county investigators to Dunnings
and his brother, Steven Dunnings, a Lansing-area attorney charged with two
counts of engaging prostitution. Hope said she looks forward to Dunnings leaving
office 'so we can move on. Byrum and Schuette's spokeswoman both declined to
comment Tuesday on Dunnings' resignation. clivengood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (517)
371-3661 Twitter: @ChadLivengood
