Matt Mencarini

Lansing State Journal

LANSING - Stuart Dunnings III paid for sex "hundreds of times" between 2010 and 2015, state and county law enforcement officials said Monday as they announced charges against the long-serving Ingham County prosecutor.

Dunnings was arrested Monday morning outside a Lansing coffee shop, officials said.

He is facing a total of 15 criminal charges in Ingham, Clinton and Ionia counties, the most serious being a felony charge of prostitution-pandering for allegedly using his position to coerce a woman who came to him for help with a child custody case to have sex with him for money, according to court records.

The other charges are misdemeanors for engaging in the services of a prostitute and willful neglect of duty, which stems from his failure to report crimes, according to court records.

According to an affidavit from an Ingham County detective, Dunnings solicited prostitutes from websites such as Escort Vault and Backpage, paid for sex for sex as often as three or four times a week and was videotaped by one of the prostitutes.

"I’ve known Stuart for a long time," Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth said at a news conference Monday. "We've done some campaigning together. This was a huge betrayal of his trust, his oath of office, his service to the people of this county."

A year-long investigation by the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by the FBI and the Attorney General’s office resulted in the charges. Dunnings faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

He was arraigned in several District Courts on Monday afternoon. During the video arraignment in 54A District Court in Lansing, G. Michael Hocking, Dunnings’ attorney, told Magistrate Laura Millmore the charges might be "somewhat of a political case" full of "titillating-type accusations," but that his client was no threat to the community. He added that Dunnings had been aware of the investigation for weeks and hadn’t fled or harassed witnesses, despite ample opportunity to do so.

Dunnings is a Democrat who was elected in 1996. Attorney General Bill Schuette is a Republican. Wriggelsworth is a Democrat.

Millmore released Dunnings on a $5,000 personal recognizance bond.

With cuffed hands partially concealed beneath a table, the prosecutor appeared in an open-collar shirt and sport coat. His sister, Ingham County Circuit Court Administrator Shauna Dunnings, sat in the courtroom, and multiple court employees asked if she was OK and some hugged her.

Hocking refused to comment before or after the arraignment, but could be overheard in the hallway before the proceedings telling Shauna Dunnings and other court employees he felt Schuette’s motivations were political in nature.

During the news conference, Schuette said charges were "disheartening to the law enforcement community." He called for Dunnings to resign.

"This is not a going into Barnes and Noble and buying something as a client or a customer," Schuette said. "This is an instance where an officer of the law, an officer of the court, the prosecutor in the capital city of Michigan has a responsibility to enforce the law, report crimes, but he did just the opposite. He was a participant in commercial sex activity."

Officials in Clinton County 65A District Court said no arraignment had been scheduled as of Monday afternoon.

Dunnings' bond was set at $10,000 in 55th District Court, according to court records. He was arraigned by a Jackson County District Court judge after the local judges disqualified themselves.

Charges stem from federal investigation

While Wriggelsworth said there had been "chatter" over the years about Dunnings and prostitution, the charges against Dunnings grew out of a federal human trafficking investigation, in which the FBI gave local law enforcement information that led to the year-long investigation into Dunnings. The local investigation included interviews with the women and a review of phone and bank records, Wriggelsworth said.

The felony charge relates to a relationship between Dunnings and a woman came to him for help with a custody dispute with the father of her child, according to the affidavit from Det. Amber Kenny-Hinojosa, which was filed in support of charges that Schuette's office released today.

Dunnings and the woman, who's referred to in the affidavit as Witness 6, met at his office in 2010, the affidavit said. She told him she was a domestic violence victim and that the father of her child had abused her.

They met for lunch in the cafe of a downtown Lansing hotel, according to the affidavit. Dunnings asked her to lunch a second time and during that meeting told her he knew she was struggling financially and said he was "seeking a sexual relationship with her, and that he would pay her money in return."

She said she was shocked at first and eventually agreed — feeling like she had no choice — and the two started an on-and-off "commercial sex relationship" that lasted more than a year, the affidavit said. Dunnings paid the woman $600 every two weeks during the times they met for sex, and he also provided her with gifts and paid some of her bills.

The woman told police she hoped Dunnings would help in her child custody case and feared he would cause problems if she refused, according to the affidavit. The two met for sex in her home — a Lansing trailer park — and two area hotels, the woman told police.

In all, six women told police they had sex with Dunnings. One said they met for sex the first time at the Red Roof Inn in Lansing, and over the next five years would meet for sex as often as three or four times a week.

The woman told police that Dunnings had asked her to arrange for him to have sex with two women at the same time, which she did, and that she had videotaped "one of their commercial sex transactions."

A third prostitute said Dunnings asked her to call him at his office, which she did, according to the affidavit.

Lansing man convicted on sex trafficking charges

Dunnings had publicly opposed prostitution

Dunnings was first elected prosecutor in November 1996 and was most recently re-elected in 2012 to his fifth four-year term. He is a past president of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan.

With an annual salary of more than $132,000, he is the highest-paid elected official in Ingham County.

Ingham County Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Lisa McCormick said in a statement the office had no comment on the charges.

“The day to day business of the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office continues to be performed by the attorneys and staff,” she said. “I am not going to speak on behalf of Mr. Dunnings. Any questions about the case should be addressed by the Attorney General or Mr. Dunnings' attorney.”

Dunnings has presented himself in the past as a staunch opponent of prostitution.

In 2001, Dunnings took over prosecuting the city's prostitution-related crimes in hopes of getting tougher penalties for offenders. He began impounding johns' vehicles and charging prostitutes and their customers with felonies for third offenses. In the first two years alone, his prosecutors charged 19 people with felonies and impounded 53 vehicles.

Steven Dunnings, Stuart Dunnings III's brother, is also facing two charges of engaging in the services of a prostitute, which resulted from the same investigation. He has not yet been arraigned.

Preliminary hearings, which will determine if there’s enough evidence for Stuart Dunnings III to stand trial, are scheduled for later this month.

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com.Tom Thelen, Justin Hinkley, Christopher Behnan and Dave Wasinger contributed to this report.

AG's office sets up victim hotline

Attorney General Bill Schuette's office set up an phone number and is urging anyone who believes they have been a victimized by Dunnings to call. That number is (517) 241-6556.