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Friday, October 3, 2014

A Closer Look: Presque Isle Co. Prosecutor Claims Corruption in Local Law Enforcement

Continuing coverage tonight on corruption claims involving local law enforcement in several Northern Michigan counties.
It's a story 9&10 News first broke on Thursday.  
The Presque Isle County Prosecutor wants the agencies investigated
Prosecutor Richard Steiger believes Presque Isle County's Sheriff's Department and the Alpena State Police Post are rife with corruption and cover-ups.  
Steiger submitted a request to the Department of Justice for review in early August.
In it, he asks them to come to Northern Michigan, reopen several cases, and investigate the corruption claims.
State Police and the Sheriffs Department tell us they welcome an investigation, saying they have nothing to hide.
"The fact there are some on law enforcement that portray themselves as above the law and yet hold the community folks to a different standard won't be tolerated," said Richard Steiger. 
Prosecutor Richard Steiger starts his letter to the Justice Department claiming an officer out of Alpena used exceptional clearance when the officer's son was investigated for sex crimes.

"I think this is a clear violation of his power, so I reported it to MSP and they did an investigation to check into the matter, and reviewing the matter they said they did nothing wrong because the girl did not want to prosecute. Well, that's just not heard of. Whenever there's a rape, even if the victim is reluctant to go forward, that report is sent up to the prosecutor for review.

Steiger says shortly after going to the FBI, he became the center of a drug abuse investigation, but the charges were dropped.
He feels that investigation may have been in retaliation.
State police provided a statement saying  matters have been investigated, and that Steiger's claims are not true.

But his letter calls out the Sheriff's Department too.  

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