Michigan Prosecutor Allegedly Paid for Sex Hundreds of Times

LANSING, MI – A county prosecutor and outspoken critic of human trafficking has been charged with multiple counts of prostitution and willful neglect of duty after allegedly paying for sex hundreds of times with women he met through online escort services, authorities said Monday.

The charges against Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III stem from a 2015 federal investigation into a Michigan-based human trafficking ring, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement.

The U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan filed charges against the leader of the ring, Tyron Smith, in 2015. Smith pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing on three counts of sex trafficking young girls and women, including one minor.

Dunnings was allegedly a regular customer who paid for sex hundreds of times from 2010 to 2015 in Ingham, Clinton and Ionia counties, where he now faces the charges, Schuette and Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wrigglesworth said in the joint announcement.

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Federal Bureau of Investigation Supervisory Senior Resident Agent Ted Docks said in the statement that “investigators developed information we could not ignore involving a public official” during the course of the investigation against Smith.

“Although that information did not reach the threshold for a federal violation, we shared that information with the Michigan Attorney General’s Office," Docks said. "This sort of interagency coordination is routine to ensure crime problems in the Lansing area are addressed appropriately.”

Dunnings was primarily a customer, Schuette and Wrigglesworth alleged, but he also allegedly induced a woman to become a prostitute, resulting in a 20-year felony pandering charge, they said.

The willful neglect of duty charges stem from Dunning’s alleged involvement in illegal activity while also serving as the prosecutor of Ingham County, a position he has held since 1997.

During that time, Dunnings was also an outspoken advocate against prostitution and human trafficking, Schuette said.

The charges were filed at four courts in three Michigan counties, including:

Prostitution/Pandering, 1 Count

• Did induce, persuade, encourage, inveigle or entice a person to become a prostitute, contrary to MCL 750.455
• Felony, 20 years

Engaging in the Services of Prostitution, 10 Counts

• Did engage or offer to engage the services of a person for the purpose of prostitution contrary to MCL 333.5129
• Misdemeanor, 93 days and/or $500

Willful Neglect of Duty, 4 Counts

• Did willfully neglect to perform his duty to refrain from blatant violations of the criminal law, a duty enjoined on him by his oath of office as a county prosecutor, contrary to MCL 750.478
• Misdemeanor, 1 year and/or $1,000

Dunnings, the Ingham County prosecutor was taken into custody by the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office Monday, according to the announcement.

His brother, Lansing attorney Steven Dunnings, was also charged with two counts of Engaging the Services of Prostitution as a result of the same investigation.

Schuette also plans to notify the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission of the charges, which could lead to their disbarment.

“Human trafficking is a crime that puts people, in this case young women, into situations where their lives are endangered and where they are manipulated and brutalized,” Schuette said in the statement statement. “I am saddened that an elected official who holds a special trust from voters and is the chief prosecutor in our capital city would allegedly engage in conduct causing felony and misdemeanor charges to be filed.”

He said the charges show “the system in Michigan is not rigged.”

“People wonder whether we have a ‘wink and a nod’ justice system where the chosen few skate and escape punishment because of who they know or because they hold an important position in government,” Schuette said.

Wriggelsworth called Dunnings’ alleged conduct “a betrayal to everyone in our county that has voted for [him] over the last several decades.”

“His alleged behavior is not what best represents law enforcement in Ingham County or law enforcement anywhere in Michigan,” he said.