LANSING (WWJ) – Jonathan Byrd, a former Labor Union leader and prominent figure in Michigan politics, has been charged with criminal sexual conduct.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday that Byrd was charged with fourth-degree CSC for an incident at a party in April 2022.
Byrd, 40, of Battle Creek, had been “a prominent figure in Michigan politics and lobbying government on behalf of his employer, the Michigan Labor District Council of the Laborers International Union of America North or LiUNA,” according to Nessel. office
According to the AG’s office, Byrd allegedly “forcefully moved the victim’s hand to his penis” at a social gathering in Kalamazoo County in April 2022.
Officials say Byrd and the victim worked in the same field and that he “held a very influential position at the Capitol and throughout the state in the realm of government and politics.”
Nessel says his position “provided a significant power imbalance between him and the victim.”
“In the state of Michigan we will hold sexual predators accountable, no matter how connected they are and no matter how prominent they are in the dealings of our government,” Nessel said in a news release.
Byrd has since resigned from his job as director of external affairs for LiUNA’s Michigan Labor District Council and from his role as president of the South-Central Michigan Area Labor Council of the AFL-CIO of Michigan.
A court date has not yet been set.
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