Anti-LGBT Ex-MI House Speaker Accused Of Molestation

Todd Heywood reports at Lansing City Pulse:

The sister-in-law of former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield has filed a criminal complaint against him with the Lansing Police Department for allegedly sexually assaulting her beginning when she was a teenager attending his church and the associated Christian school.

A city spokesman said today that the city has transferred the matter to the Michigan State Police for investigation. Chatfield remained a staunch opponent of LGBTQ legal protections during his tenure in the house.

In 2019, Chatfield became Michigan’s youngest House speaker, a post he held until he was term-limited out of the House at the end of 2020. He briefly served as CEO of Southwest Michigan First, an economic development group in the Kalamazoo area. However, controversy over his anti-LGBTQ politics led him to resign the position last February.

The Detroit Free Press reports:

Okemos attorney Jamie White said Chatfield had a sexual relationship with a girl that began about 11 years ago when she was about 15 and ended only recently. The sexual contact began when Chatfield was working at a school and church the complainant attended near his home in northern Michigan, White said.

White previously represented dozens of women sexually assaulted by ex-gymnastics trainer Larry Nassar in a lawsuit against Michigan State University and still represents men suing the University of Michigan who say they were sexually assaulted by former trainer Robert Anderson.

He said Thursday there are further allegations against Chatfield. These include accusations related to misappropriation of public funds while he was in the Legislature. He declined to elaborate, except to say that the allegations relate to certain expenditures.

Chatfield appeared on JMG several times during 2020 for his attempts to strip Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of her pandemic-related powers.

In late November 2020, I reported that he and other Michigan GOP leaders had met with Trump at the White House to discuss overturning Biden’s win of the state.

In 2019, Chatfield was arrested for “accidentally” bringing a loaded handgun onto a plane. He later paid a $2000 fine.