Sexual assault and weapons case against GOP lawmaker turned over to Michigan attorney general

BY ANNA LIZ NICHOLS, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

MICHIGAN—The case against state Rep. Neil Friske (R-Charlevoix) has been sent to the state Attorney General’s Office for review. That comes after local police arrested the northern Michigan lawmaker in June and requested charges of sexual assault and assault, as well as a weapons-related charge.

The investigation looked into potential criminal acts across multiple counties, making the Michigan Attorney General’s office better suited to examine the case, Ingham County Prosecutor John J. Dewane said in an email to media Tuesday.

It has been nearly three months since Lansing police arrested Friske in the early morning hours of June 20 after responding to a report that there was a male with a gun and possible shots fired at around 2:45 a.m., according to the Lansing Police Department.

Shortly after the arrest and investigation, Lansing police requested Friske be charged with felony sexual assault, assault charges and a weapons-related charge. At the time, Dewane directed local police to then investigate the matter further.

Nearly three months later, the Michigan Attorney General’s Office is taking over the reins of the case, with Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel telling reporters Tuesday that it’s common for prosecutors examining cases that concern multiple counties to ask for her office’s help.

“We very frequently make that offer to all the county prosecutors where there are multiple jurisdictions involved that if they would like our department to handle it because of that, because obviously we have jurisdiction in all 83 counties, that we’re happy to assist,” Nessel said. “And so apparently after some pretty extensive investigation, that was the decision made by Prosecutor Dewane, so we accepted.”

Friske, who lost his reelection bid in the August primary to Republican challenger Parker Faribairn, did not respond immediately to a request for comment. He has said in the past that he’s being “framed” in the case.

Friske, who is considered one of the most conservative members of the Michigan Legislature, talked about his case on June 24 with GOP activist “Trucker Randy” Bishop on his right-wing “Your Defending Fathers” radio program.

Bishop spoke at length and claimed that Fairbairn and U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Watersmeet), who had endorsed Fairbairn, were working to destroy Friske’s campaign. Friske responded on-air by saying everything Bishop said was “100% accurate information.”

“The way events unfolded, it was very clear to me that something wasn’t right, and I was being framed, trying to be framed, and being set up,” Friske said. “And that’s how these people work and it’s just so frustrating. It’s just amazing to me how desperate people are that they go to these kinds of lengths to try to destroy someone.”

READ MORE: What we know about Republican state Rep. Neil Friske and his alleged crimes

This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.