Lawyer: Charles Pugh tried to turn teen into prostitute

Plenty of mudslinging got under way today in the sex-grooming trial of ex-Detroit City Councilman Charles Pugh, with one side claiming the former politician tried to turn a teenage boy into a prostitute while the other side claimed the student wanted and welcomed the advances.

"This case is about regret," Pugh's lawyer, Marc Deldin, told jurors in his opening statement, arguing Pugh's accuser was never harassed or abused by his client, but rather did some regrettable things because he wanted money.

"He's embarrassed. He's ashamed of what he voluntarily did. He sold his self-respect and he regrets it," Deldin said.

Plaintiffs attorney William Seikaly told a different story, calling Pugh a "celebrity and powerful man" who abused his power by sexually harassing and pursuing a high school student from a struggling family who trusted and looked up to Pugh.

"What this case is about is power, and the abuse of power," Seikaly said, claiming his client has lost friends, family and self-esteem due to Pugh's behavior, and that Pugh has caused him to sink into a deep depression.

The plaintiff has claimed that Pugh convinced him to produce a video of himself masturbating, and offered him cash for oral sex after grooming him through his mentorship program.

The plaintiff was identified in court for the first time today, but the Free Press normally does not name victims in sexual abuse cases.

"I'll be blunt. ... For a young man growing up on the east side of Detroit in this day and age, (the plaintiff) is fairly naive and not very worldly," Seikaly said, noting his client lost his father when he was 1, and aspired to be like Pugh. "He desperately wanted to be mentored by Pugh. He represented a male role model. ... He dressed very well, he drove a fancy car and he always seemed to have money in his pocket. And these are the things" the young man wanted to be.

Seikaly told the jury that he plans to show 450 text messages between Pugh and the teen that will show how Pugh pursued his client.

"Text messages will show that he had a crush on" the teen "all year, that he had been waiting all year to see (the teen) with his clothes off," Seikaly said.

The grooming started when the teen was 17 and continued months after he turned 18, according to Seikaly, who has argued that his client was not a consenting adult.

"The 18th birthday did not make him a consenting adult," Seikaly said. "The text messages show that he did not want to do this."

But what they do show, Seikaly said, is this: "Charles Pugh is trying to turn" his client "into a male prostitute."

Seikaly also told the jury that Detroit Public School officials are also responsible for this because, he claims, they knew Pugh was a danger to young boys but let him work in the all-boys academy anyway.

"They let this happen," Seikaly said.

Theophilus Clemons, an attorney for DPS, blasted that theory, claiming top school officials were unaware of any sexual harassment or abuse involving Pugh and his accuser. He said DPS officials were not aware of the allegations until they surfaced in the media, when Pugh fled the city and moved to New York.

Clemons argued that Pugh's accuser sent numerous text messages to Pugh asking for gifts like an Xbox, video games and money, and once willingly went with Pugh on a shopping spree in Madison Heights to buy clothes for a job interview. He said the "texting went on willingly" between two "consenting adults," and that the plaintiff has a main hole in his theory.

"He never said stop texting," said Clemens, who also disputed claims that the plaintiff is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder from the alleged ordeal.

"He never saw a doctor — not one — at least until his attorney sent him to one," Clemons said, adding soldiers and accident victims suffer from PTSD, not "a grown man who receives text messages."

Pugh, who has lived in New York since the sex scandal broke two years ago, has never been charged with a crime. He does not have to attend the trial because he lives more than 100 miles away and has offered his testimony via videotape, which will be played for the jury.

The jury also will hear testimony from four Detroit school board members who testify that they had expressed concerns about Pugh working with high school boys but Detroit school officials ignored those concerns.

The word "pedophile" will be banned from the courtroom. Pugh requested that no one call him that at trial, and the judge agreed.

The trial resumes Thursday morning with the first scheduled witness: a Detroit school board member who says DPS was forewarned about Pugh being attracted to young boys.

Pugh, a former weekend TV news anchor, was elected to City Council in 2009, serving as president. He mysteriously vanished from Detroit after allegations surfaced in 2013 involving his relationships with teenage boys, and he later resigned his council seat.