WINFREY/12/22

Charles Pugh approached his high school broadcasting teacher one day for some advice. Pugh knew he wanted to be a TV anchor so he asked: What do I have to do to get there?

Get a degree and straighten your teeth, his teacher, Adolph Arendt, told him.

Several years later, Pugh returned to Murray-Wright High School in Detroit with an update.

“He said: ‘I got my first job,’” Arendt recalled. “And he said: ‘I came to show you my braces.’ ”

NUPugh's life has been one of triumph over tragedy, only to fall beyond the depths of where he started. He lost both parents before he was 8, yet managed to go to college and become a successful TV and radio broadcaster, then succeed in a new career -- politics -- with such vigor that many mentioned him as a possible future mayor of Detroit. But it was another side of Pugh that ultimately led to his demise: sexual actions with teens.

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Earlier this month, Pugh arrived at the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility in Ionia, about two hours from Detroit, to begin serving time for having sex with a 14-year-old boy more than a decade ago. ENDNU

“You’re a man that the public thought they knew and trusted,” Wayne County Circuit Judge Thomas Cameron told 45-year-old Pugh last month, calling his behavior “reprehensible."

Cameron sentenced Pugh to 5½ to 15 years in prison on Nov. 9.

'Mommy's in heaven'

Growing up, Pugh experienced loss early and often.

His parents— who he said met when his mom visited her cousin in Detroit one summer — divorced when Charles was a toddler.

When he was 3, his mother, Marcia Pugh, was discovered dead on a bed at her Detroit home three days before Thanksgiving in 1974. Her neck had been slashed; , she suffered stab wounds to the face, and her ankles were bound with a black scarf, an autopsy report showed.

Money littered the floor in the neat, brick house on San Juan and marijuana and heroin paraphernalia were discovered at the scene, the document said.

Marcia Pugh's final years contrasted with her earlier life in St. Clair Shores, judging by photos from a Lake Shore High School yearbook that which shows her as an active part of the class of 1966. During her junior year, the then-Marcia O'Neal served as a student council representative and is in the yearbook posing with other class leaders surrounded by books.

Details of her Marcia Pugh's gruesome death about a decade later were made public in a Free Press article, which described her as a “sexy, attractive 26-year-old woman,” with “big-time drug dealer” friends who showered her with money and jewels.

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Months before she was killed, she Marcia Pugh had $70,000 worth of diamonds stolen. In retaliation, a man fingered as the thief — a man police said didn’t actually commit the crime — was bound, beaten and strangled in a flat rented to Marcia Pugh, the article said.

Two alleged drug dealers — her boyfriend and a past lover — were accused in that crime, the article said. But Marcia Pugh and others changed their testimony, and many charges against them were dropped before her death.

Police said they warned her to stay away from her friends, but she ignored the advice.

Her son, Charles Pugh, who declined to be interviewed by the Free Press for this story, previously said he remembers his grandmother telling him: “Your mommy's in heaven.”

He said he didn’t go to her funeral, adding: “One day, I just didn’t see her anymore.”

An unexpected break in her murder case came seven years later, when police received information that Robert Alvin was involved. He was charged with first-degree murder in 1981. At that time, police said robbery appeared to be the motive.

Police records obtained by the Free Press say Marcia Pugh came home around 2:15 a.m. as her home was being burglarized, and she was killed before the intruders took off.

A man, who said he was with Alvin at the home when the slaying happened, told police Marcia Pugh said: " 'Don't hurt me. ... I won't tell nobody, just take what you want.' "

How Alvin’s criminal case ended isn’t clear. Prosecutors, prison officials and court employees couldn’t find files or said they no longer exist.

But an entry on an old computer system in Wayne County Circuit Court shows a man by the name of Robert Alvin receiving a 5-15 year sentence. Murder was the initial charge listed, but no more information, including the final charge, was listed.

'Blood everywhere'

The worst day

After his mother's death, young Charles moved in with his father, George Pugh.

He would live with his dad for a few years until 1978, when his dad, who was an unemployed autoworker, died, too.

George Pugh had remarried, had a baby on the way and grew despondent about not being able to find a job, his family said. On Friday, Oct. 13, 1978, George Pugh shot himself in the head with a .32 caliber revolver after drinking alcohol, his autopsy report said. He was 32.

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When an investigator with the medical examiner's office arrived at the home on South Chrysler, George Pugh's body was found facedown on a bedroom floor with the gun still in his hand and his finger on the trigger.

Charles, who was just 7, discovered his father's body, the report said.

"There was blood everywhere," Pugh recalled in a 2002 interview with the Free Press.

He said they were the only two in the house when his dad killed himself. Shortly before he heard the gunshot, Pugh said his father kissed him told him “I love you." He responded, “I love you, too.”

Friday, Oct. 13, 1978, Pugh would later say, was the worst day of his life.

'He was very brilliant'

'Everybody loved him'

Now orphaned, Charles grew up with his paternal grandmother, Margaret Pough, whose last name is spelled differently from than that of her grandson. He was surrounded by attentive aunts, uncles and cousins and stayed close with his stepmother, who, along with other relatives, attended Pugh's recent court hearings.

"From then on, I had a very traditional upbringing. ... I did chores and homework. I wasn't allowed to use the phone or watch TV after a certain time," Pugh once told the Free Press.

For years, his grandmother provided the Wayne County Probate Court with status reports on her grandson’s activities and emotional state. His activities at the time included racquetball, tennis, bowling, skating, swimming, church and Boy Scout camping.

She checked a box on court forms in the early 1980s that said Pugh's mental health improved. Then, when he was 12, she described his mental health as “very good.”

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One thing that remained consistent throughout the probate file: his good grades at Edmonson Elementary School and later at Pelham Magnet Middle School.

“He was very brilliant,” a relative, who did not want to be named, told the Free Press this year. “Everybody loved him, and we still love him.”

Pursuit of stardom 'I want greatness'

The future journalist earned the titles “class brain” and “most likely to succeed” his senior year at Murray-Wright High School on the city's west side.

“He was a good student. He was a nice kid. He listened,” said Arendt, his former broadcasting teacher. “Everybody liked him.”

Pugh, who graduated in 1989, was editor in chief of the school newspaper, shortstop for the Murray-Wright Pilots and a member of the National Honor Society.

While at Murray-Wright, Pugh became a close friend of became close friends with Reggie Reg Davis, a fellow student who also wanted a broadcasting career.

“I was a radio guy,” Davis said. “He was a TV guy.”

The two would put on a show that aired over the PA system for their classmates, with Pugh giving the news.

“When the name Charles Pugh comes to me, the first thing I think of is not little boys,” said Davis, who's radio career has spanned three decades. “The first thing I think of is Murray-Wright High School at the lockers."

That's where the two young men made a pact: become successful in the fields of radio and television, come back to Detroit then get involved in elected office. Both did just that, with Davis being elected to the 2009-11 Detroit Charter Revision Commission.

Pugh attended the University of Missouri in Columbia — calling it the best journalism school in the country — with a $24,000 scholarship he received from Ford Motor Company.

"I want to be the biggest star of morning television,” he told the Free Press at age 18. “I want greatness."

In pursuit of these goals, Pugh built a resume dotted with stops at TV stations across the country — Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, Virginia.

Alveta Ewell, his co-anchor at WAVY-TV in Norfolk, Va., during the late 1990s, remembers Pugh as a bright spot in the newsroom during his time there and said he had an infectious personality.

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“He could interview anybody at any time … that person could be under a rock, and they would be willing to crawl out,” Ewell said.

One day, he made the entire newsroom laugh with his remarks during a live shot, she recalled. Pugh had come across an attractive young woman to interview while out on an assignment and sprinkled throughout his news report, he kept saying: “I’m single. I’m single. I’m single.”

'Do the right thing'

The popular TV personality made it home to the Detroit market in 1999, just before his 10-year high school reunion.

Several years later, Pugh came out publicly as gay.

By that point, in 2004, he was back in Detroit, working as a weekend morning anchor at Fox 2 and a radio personality on WJLB-FM (97.9). He'd created a following of fans, some of whom would even seek his autograph when he was on assignment.

Jamaine Dickens, his high school classmate, said Pugh came across on TV the same way he once knew him: outgoing, funny, nice and caring.

Off camera though, another side had started to emerge.

It wasn't a secret that Pugh kept company with younger men, said Dickens, who owns a public affairs firm and at one point lived in the same apartment building as Pugh.

“The nice guy that I used to know is not the guy that I see him as today,” said Dickens, who served as spokesman for former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

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According to a motion filed by prosecutors, during Pugh's early years at Fox 2, he had an “inappropriate relationship” with an intern at the TV television station, got disciplined by bosses and was no longer allowed to supervise interns at the news station.

That document said Pugh had a framed picture of the intern on his desk. Pugh also drove the young man back and forth to his internship and received a “last and final warning” from supervisors, it said.

A spokeswoman for Fox 2 declined to comment about the situation.

Pugh's colleagues at the TV station frequently saw him around young men — both at the station and outside the station — and found it odd and inappropriate, said Scott Lewis, a private investigator who worked at Fox 2 for more than two decades. It was hard to tell the age of those people who appeared to be younger than under 20, he said.

Sometimes, Pugh would be giving tours at the station to a young man or a group of young men when Lewis would show up to work on the weekends.

“I think that it was not uncommon for people to have raised eyebrows over his interaction with young boys,” Lewis said.

A few days before Pugh left Fox 2 to run for c City c Council, Lewis said, he stopped his colleague in the hall to talk. He thought Pugh would be elected because of with his name recognition.

“I said, 'Charles, you need to do the right thing,’ " Lewis recalled. “'We’ve got a city with huge problems, and if you’re going to be on the c City c Council, you gotta do the right thing.'”

'I wanna see your body'

NEW/Begin/

Entering politics meant a different level of public scrutiny for Pugh.

Despite a rocky record with his personal finances that led to news stories during his campaign, Pugh garnered more votes than any other c City c Council candidate in 2009, propelling him to council president.

It wouldn’t be long before reporters started writing about the new city leader.

Topics ranged from Pugh's city-owned vehicle being found crashed and abandoned on the side of I-75, to Pugh posting a video showing off his abs and new physique after losing more than 50 pounds. That story triggered a Twitter feud with a news media intern for Automotive News who had questioned Pugh's priorities.

As the city’s finances were crumbling, R residents began to show up in great numbers to council meetings. as the city moved toward first a consent agreement and then, bankruptcy.he t The council president came under fire as council president for refusing to move council meetings to a larger auditorium to accommodate the crowds. Residents began to show up in great numbers as the city moved toward first a consent agreement and then, bankruptcy.

But the scandal that destroyed his political career erupted in June 2013, the month before the city declared bankruptcy.

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Pugh vanished from public view without explanation, deserting his council seat and constituents, as news about his behavior with an 18-year-old male high school student surfaced.

The city leader and mentor to children, was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a male student who had gone through Pugh's mentorship program at the Detroit Public Schools' Detroit’s Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men.

The teen said Pugh took him shopping, bought him a cell phone and clothes and pressured him into making a video tape of himself masturbating in exchange for $160 to spend on the prom. The incident became public after the young man's the former student's mother discovered what was going on.

There were dozens of messages sent from Pugh's phone to the young man, including texts requesting the teen make a video of himself masturbating.

"But i wanna see your body. Front and back. So the video has to show everything. lol. #EVERYTHING," one message read. After the video was created, Pugh texted would text the teen his satisfaction with what he saw, and his fear.

"Dude, your body is (expletive) AMAZING. I just wanna give u more money to watch u walk around naked. lol."

"Dude, if anyone finds out about this: I'm dead. So please keep this between us."

The respect and admiration he earned over the years turned into disappointment and anger in the city he once vowed on the heels of the Kwame Kilpatrick scandal never to embarrass or let down.

As news reports about the incident began to surface, Pugh vanished without explanation.

Detroit's state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr stripped him of his $76,911 council salary and all powers.

There was a brief sighting of Pugh in Seattle, Wash., then, months later, he would reappeared in New York. But instead of working as a journalist in the largest media market in the country, Pugh worked as a waiter.

Pugh Pugh ended up facing a civil suit, but no criminal charges in connection with his actions with the former high school student. The lawsuit ended with Pugh being ordered to pay his accuser $250,000.

Some who knew Pugh over the years said they weren't surprised when the accusations about him surfaced. But others, like some former mentees, vouched for Pugh as a mentor who helped them in high school and supported them financially in college.

'My heart is heavy'

The story of the accusation and lawsuit caught the attention of another man.

Austin Williams had kept a secret about his relationship with he and Pugh for more than a decade. He went to police last year to reveal it. Williams, 28, who has spoken publicly about the case, said he decided he wasn't going to let Pugh "do this to any other kids."

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He was 14 when he met Pugh at Fox 2 in 2003, when the dance/theater group he sang in performed at the TV station. Williams said he asked Pugh about internships. Williams, who is gay, said he looked up to Pugh, a successful, gay, black man, and wanted to learn from him.

Pugh, though, showed Williams pornography and asked the teen if he wanted to do what was on the video, Williams testified earlier this year. They started having sex when Williams was 14, too young to legally consent.

Pugh repeatedly told the teen not to tell anybody about the sex acts, saying he could "get in really big trouble," Williams testified. Pugh's actions in 2003 and 2004 led to criminal charges in June, and he was extradited from New York to face the felony counts in Detroit.

Prosecutors said they found Williams consistent and credible and that said he didn't gain anything from coming forward.

"The statute of limitations had passed for any civil lawsuit," Wayne County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Maria Miller said. "His motivation for coming forward was to protect others, after he saw Pugh on the news calling another victim from the civil suit a liar."

During a court hearing, prosecutors argued Pugh acted similarly toward other young men and said they intended to call three of them to the stand during Pugh’s trial.

As his case worked through the court system, Pugh had support from family members, many of whom declined to talk to the Free Press. One relative said they weren't going to turn their backs on Pugh but couldn't afford the $150,000 cash bond needed to bail him out of jail. CAN"T USE HER NAME/anon sourcing ok?

“My heart is heavy for my nephew. My heart is heavy for the victim,” she said, adding her family is praying for them both.

Pugh accepted a plea deal in the case and avoided a trial. He pleaded guilty to two felony counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and agreed to spend 5 1/2 to 15 years behind bars, be on the Sex Offender Registry for life, receive sex offender counseling and not have any unsupervised contact with minors. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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“I know I let down a lot of people,” Pugh said moments before he was sentenced. “So, I want to apologize for that.”

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said when chargeable evidence was presented to her office, charges were brought as quickly as a complete and thorough investigation allowed.

"It is undisputed that Charles Pugh did some good things for the City of Detroit. I liked his public persona very much," she said in a statement. "It is now undisputed that he was a predator and he committed the crime that we charged him with."

From city hall to prison

Some said Pugh had been warned about his interactions with young men over the years.

“I know Charles very well,” said Davis, his longtime friend. “In short, his family, myself and others would tell him ‘be careful.’"

Davis said he visited Pugh in jail and is praying for the people impacted by his friend's behavior.

After his sentencing last month, Pugh was transferred to the Michigan Department of Corrections' custody. He underwent psychological, medical, educational and security classification evaluations in Jackson and arrived at the prison in Ionia Dec. 1. The earliest he can be released is Dec. 22, 2021.

Pugh, who was in a cell by himself during his time in jail for his protection and safety, has a cellmate in prison, officials said. But Pugh is in a unit that doesn't mix with the general prison population, a MDOC spokesman said.

“He reminds me of Kwame Kilpatrick in some ways because of his charismatic personality and the potential that he had both in media and in politics,” said Lewis, Pugh’s former colleague at Fox 2. “Then it was all thrown away because of this dark side of his personality.”

Pugh's victim in the criminal case said the most important thing to him moving forward is people know that Pugh is "a sexual predator."

"The shame that he put on myself ... he now has to feel that for the rest of his life," Williams said. "And that, that's going to be justice."

Free Press Staff Writers Matt Helms, Gina Damron and Free Press photographer Eric Seals contributed to this report.

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com or 313-222-5144. Follow on Twitter: @elishaanderson

Box 1

Events in Charles Pugh's life:

Born: Aug, 3, 1971

His mother died: Nov. 25, 1974

His father died: Oct. 13, 1978

Graduated from Murray-Wright High School: 1989

Started at WJBK-TV (Channel 2) in Detroit: 1999

Grandmother who raised him died: Dec. 25, 2003

Elected to Detroit City Council: Nov. 3, 2009

Vanished from Detroit amid scandal: June 2013

Ordered to pay $250,000 to student he once mentored as part of lawsuit: Dec. 21, 2015

Criminally charged on accusations of sex with minor: June 22, 2016

Pleaded guilty to two felony counts as part of plea deal: Oct. 26, 2016

Sentenced to 5.5 - 15 years in prison: Nov. 9, 2016

Transferred to Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility to serve sentence: Dec. 1, 2016