ST. JOHNS — Clinton County commissioners publicly censured Republican Commissioner Brian Hurtekant this week after they determined he posted online an unredacted police report that identified a juvenile involved in an investigation into a missing handgun connected to Sheriff Sean Dush.
The commission voted 4-3 to censure Hurtekant at its Tuesday, July 28 meeting, approving a resolution that also reprimanded him for using his commissioner title when filing a Freedom of Information request with a law enforcement agency. Lansing police and St. Johns police were involved in the investigation, but which law enforcement agency was involved was not clear in documents.
Republican Commissioners Nicole Fickes and Zach Rudat, as well as Hurtekant, voted against the censure, which amounts to a public reprimand. “There are no sanctions associated with the censure,” County Administrator and Controller John Fuentes said.
Democrats John Andrews and Dwight Washington and Republicans Robert Showers and DeLong voted for the censure.
Hurtekant, who represents Watertown, DeWitt, Olive and Riley townships, called Chair Bruce DeLong’s resolution a “complete surprise and ambush” on him and his First Amendment rights. He said he posted the police report because he was getting questions about how long Dush’s gun was missing.
He said he wasn’t aware the document he posted, which no longer appears on his personal Facebook page, included information that identified a juvenile.
“I was not using my county commissioner Facebook. That was using my own as an individual,” he said. “This is the first I’m hearing of it. You have not communicated any of this with me until today.
“There was no ill will intent to expose a juvenile.”
DeLong didn’t respond to a request for comment for this story. His resolution laid out that Hurtekant’s social media post “resulted in a letter sent to Clinton County for a ‘litigation hold,’ meaning there is threat of potential litigation.”
Dush was cleared earlier this month after a gun owned by the county and that was being used by him was found on a 13-year-old arrested by Lansing police officers who responded to a suspicious-situation call on May 30.
That boy gave a couple of different stories, but eventually said he was holding it for someone in St. Johns who had recently been arrested for larceny from a vehicle and domestic assault, the reports indicate.
The boy who was found with the gun was petitioned into juvenile court.
Lansing police determined the gun — a 9 mm Glock Model 43 — was registered to the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office and was being used by Dush.
Dush told St. Johns police the firearm was in a holster in the center console of his department-issued vehicle. He said he didn’t know it was missing and didn’t see anything disturbed in the vehicle.
St. Johns police had been investigating a series of vehicle break-ins and found a black plastic holster in a trash can on May 29, reports indicated. At the time, they were unaware of any firearms being stolen and did not seize it. Dush later viewed a photo of it and indicated it was his, the reports indicate.
Earlier this month, a special prosecutor determined Dush did nothing wrong by leaving a handgun assigned to him in a vehicle in his driveway.
Ionia County Prosecutor Kyle Butler, who reviewed the case after Clinton County Prosecutor Tony Spagnuolo recused his office, concluded there were “numerous” reasons to deny a warrant against under the state’s firearm safe storage law, including that Dush didn’t know the firearm had been stolen.
Contact editor Susan Vela at svela@lsj.com or 248-873-7044. Follow her on Twitter @susanvela.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Clinton County official censured in dispute linked to sheriff’s gun
Reporting by Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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By Susan Vela, Lansing State Journal | USA TODAY Network
