{"id":28524,"date":"2023-06-30T06:53:18","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T06:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/?p=28524"},"modified":"2023-06-30T06:53:19","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T06:53:19","slug":"former-prominent-figure-in-michigan-politics-indicted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/?p=28524","title":{"rendered":"Former &#8220;prominent&#8221; figure in Michigan politics indicted"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p data-uri=\"www.audacy.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cljhvw6xs000e01op20efwftj@published\" data-editable=\"text\" class=\"paragraph paragraph--station\">LANSING (WWJ) \u2013 Jonathan Byrd, a former Labor Union leader and prominent figure in Michigan politics, has been charged with criminal sexual conduct.<\/p>\n<p data-uri=\"www.audacy.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cljhvwev7000h357ewv1ulb40@published\" data-editable=\"text\" class=\"paragraph paragraph--station\">Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday that Byrd was charged with fourth-degree CSC for an incident at a party in April 2022.<\/p>\n<p>\n        <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/wwjam-on-demand\/some-charges-dismissed-against-vision-specialist-a\/embed?style=cover&#038;size=square\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p data-uri=\"www.audacy.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cljhvwewb000i357eizyspwsn@published\" data-editable=\"text\" class=\"paragraph paragraph--station\">Byrd, 40, of Battle Creek, had been &#8220;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,&#8221; according to Nessel.  office<\/p>\n<p data-uri=\"www.audacy.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cljhvwexn000j357e9fo0dunv@published\" data-editable=\"text\" class=\"paragraph paragraph--station\">According to the AG&#8217;s office, Byrd allegedly &#8220;forcefully moved the victim&#8217;s hand to his penis&#8221; at a social gathering in Kalamazoo County in April 2022.<\/p>\n<p data-uri=\"www.audacy.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cljhvweys000k357efvgqv6op@published\" data-editable=\"text\" class=\"paragraph paragraph--station\">Officials say Byrd and the victim worked in the same field and that he &#8220;held a very influential position at the Capitol and throughout the state in the realm of government and politics.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-uri=\"www.audacy.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cljhvwf00000l357eesfgav07@published\" data-editable=\"text\" class=\"paragraph paragraph--station\">Nessel says his position &#8220;provided a significant power imbalance between him and the victim.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p data-uri=\"www.audacy.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cljhvwf1a000m357er8drsjtf@published\" data-editable=\"text\" class=\"paragraph paragraph--station\">&#8220;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,&#8221; Nessel said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p data-uri=\"www.audacy.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cljhvwf2f000n357eekwcpav9@published\" data-editable=\"text\" class=\"paragraph paragraph--station\">Byrd has since resigned from his job as director of external affairs for LiUNA&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p data-uri=\"www.audacy.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cljhvwf4u000o357eqs0l5umu@published\" data-editable=\"text\" class=\"paragraph paragraph--station\">A court date has not yet been set.<\/p>\n<p>\n        <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/wwj-s-all-local\/taxpayers-have-spent-tens-of-thousands-of-dollars\/embed?style=cover&#038;size=square\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"620\" height=\"349\"><\/iframe>\n<\/p>\n<p>\n          <span class=\" recirculation_credit\">Featured Image Photo Credit: Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.audacy.com\/wwjnewsradio\/news\/local\/former-prominent-figure-in-michigan-politics-charged\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LANSING (WWJ) \u2013 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 &#8220;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,&#8221; according to Nessel. office According to the AG&#8217;s office, Byrd allegedly &#8220;forcefully moved the victim&#8217;s hand to his&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":28525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28526,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28524\/revisions\/28526"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news24feed.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}