Former Detroit City Council President Arrested in Harlem on Sex Charges

HARLEM, NY — The former city council president of Detroit is facing charges after being arrested Thursday morning in Harlem.

Charles Pugh, 44, has been charged with three counts of criminal sexual conduct for allegedly engaging in sexually inappropriate behavior with a 14-year-old boy between September 2003 and May 2004, according to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy. Pugh has also been charged with three lesser counts of criminal sexual conduct in the third degree, officials said.

The victim, now 27, met Pugh in 2003 when Pugh was a reporter and anchor for the Fox2 news station in Detroit. In the Summer of 2013 the teen visited Pugh in his home several times and the two kept in touch over the phone and by text message, officials said. Pugh became the Detroit city council president in 2009.

In January, The Detroit Free Press reported that Pugh was working as a waiter at two Harlem restaurants, The Cecil and Minton's. At the time Pugh was under more legal trouble for not paying a $250,000 award to a Detroit student who sued him in a sexual grooming case, The Free Press reported.