ANTRIM / GRAND TRAVERSE - Ex-court referee's license suspended, but still refs soccer

By Brian McGillivary, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

July 27--TRAVERSE CITY -- Former 13th Circuit Court referee Dennis Mikko lost his job and recently lost his license to practice law, both thanks to his possession of nude images of teenage girls in his court house office.

The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board suspended Mikko's law license for one year for "grossly improper" conduct discovered in 2009 that the hearing panel described as "reprehensible." But Mikko is back on the field as a youth and high school soccer referee after a three-year suspension that ended in spring 2013.

He's also president of the Grand Traverse Area Soccer Officials Association, the group that assigns referees to work high school games.

Mikko said no one should have concerns about his ability to referee soccer games.

"I have not done anything to anyone nor would I," Mikko said. "I have not acted in an inappropriate way as a referee nor would I. What I did before, that was in the past."

Adam Gustafson, president of Traverse Bay Area Youth Soccer, said he didn't immediately know if Mikko worked any TBAYS games since his reinstatement, but said the organization has little ability to deny him games once the state association recertified him.

"I don't like it, but there isn't a whole lot we can do about it," Gustafson said. "As a parent does it make you uncomfortable? Sure. I have three daughters and all three play for TBAYS."

Mikko's book of incest

Mikko originally faced 10 felony counts of possession of child sexually abusive material, but a judge dismissed the charges in 2010, ruling the images didn't meet the standard of "sexually abusive."

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