Trial Date Set For Charles Pugh In Criminal Sexual Conduct Case
DETROIT (WWJ) - A trial date has been set in a teen sex case involving ex-Detroit City Council president and TV newsman Charles Pugh.
Pugh faces trial Nov. 7 , charged with three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with an alleged relationship with an underage boy more than a decade ago.
Pugh, 45, appeared in court on Friday looking to have his $150,000 bond reduced, but Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Cameron instead, according to Pugh's attorney Delphia Burton, set a bond hearing for Aug. 29.
Burton called the $150,000 figure "excessive," asking for a $50,000, 10 percent bond. Asked how her client is doing behind bars, she said he could be better if he was out able to assist her on the case.
The alleged victim, now 27, was working for Pugh as an unofficial assistant when he was in high school — the two having met as the teen was performing with his theater group at Fox 2 where Pugh was an anchor and reporter.
According to graphic testimony delivered during a preliminary hearing, the alleged victim described in detail sexual encounters with Pugh he says took place in 2003-05 when he was as young as 14 years old.
The alleged victim said he wanted to build a career and saw Pugh as a mentor. He said he already knew as a teen that he was homosexual and was attracted to the older man because he'd achieved success as a gay black man from Detroit.
Following the man's testimony, 36th District Court Judge Deborah Langston bound Pugh over for trial, agreeing to lower his $500,000 bond to $150,000 on the condition he turn over his passport and driver's license and wear a tether.
She called Pugh a "gay pedophile" who had basically turned the teen into "a sex slave."
""I don't care that he's gay; that's his business," Langston said. "I am concerned about children and Mr. Pugh being together, especially males, since he's gay."
"I don't have the faith that he's not going to bother with some other young boys because that is what he appears to like. We got the civil case and now we got this case...I am concerned, I am concerned."
Langston was referring to an unrelated sexual grooming case in which a 17-year-old who sued and collected $250,000 from Pugh. The young man said Pugh made sexual advances while serving as a mentor at Douglass Academy in 2012. The Detroit school district, accused of not doing enough to protect students from Pugh, settled for $350,000.
Pugh abruptly quit city government in 2013 and moved to New York when allegations surfaced, later saying he was embarrassed.
He was extradited back to Detroit last month.
Pugh faces up to life in prison if convicted on the first degree charge. There is no statute of limitations in Michigan for prosecuting a rape case involving a minor.
