A former Warren police officer accused of seeking oral sex from a woman while he was on duty was allowed to resign rather than face criminal charges, even after the Macomb County Sheriff's Office recommended he be charged with sexual assault. The woman said she was assaulted, but prosecutors did not pursue the case.
The case was first detailed by The Detroit News, which reported that the officer resigned from the department after the alleged on-duty incident rather than being fired or criminally prosecuted. The Macomb County Sheriff's Office had investigated the woman's account and recommended sexual assault charges, according to the same report, but no charges were ever filed against the former officer.
Because the officer left the department through resignation instead of a criminal conviction, he is not automatically barred from working in law enforcement again. Under Michigan law governing the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards, mandatory license revocation is triggered primarily by a criminal conviction for a felony or specified misdemeanors, not by an administrative resignation made during an internal investigation, according to Ben Hall Law. That means an officer who resigns without ever being charged can, in theory, retain his state certification and seek work at another department.
Why Prosecutors Face a Steep Legal Bar
Michigan's common-law misconduct in office statute, codified at MCL 750.505, makes corrupt behavior by an officer exercising public duties a five-year felony — but it requires prosecutors to prove corrupt intent beyond a reasonable doubt, a standard explained by Justia. That threshold requires more than showing a policy violation or administrative failure; prosecutors must establish specific corrupt intent, a bar that can be difficult to clear in cases that hinge on one person's word against another's.
Sexual misconduct and domestic abuse allegations against police officers are especially hard to prosecute, Macomb County Prosecutor Pete Lucido acknowledged in an interview last October, citing victim reluctance and complex evidentiary burdens as recurring obstacles, per a report cited by the Michigan Coalition to End Domestic and Sexual Violence blog. Lucido's comments were made generally about the challenges of prosecuting officer-involved sex crime allegations, not specifically about this case.
A Department With a Recent History of Misconduct Cases
Warren Police Commissioner Eric Hawkins, appointed in 2024 by Mayor Lori Stone after previously serving as police chief in Albany, New York, leads one of Macomb County's largest municipal police forces, serving a city of roughly 135,000 residents, according to the City of Warren. This is not the department's first brush with alleged officer misconduct in recent years.
In July 2023, former Warren officer Matthew J. Rodriguez was charged in a federal criminal complaint with deprivation of rights under color of law after allegedly assaulting a bound prisoner inside the department's jail, with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan noting that state charges were dismissed to let federal prosecutors take over the case following the disclosure of booking room video. And in March 2024, two Warren officers, Dammeon Player and Carlos Taylor, were fired and charged with failure to uphold the law after an out-of-jurisdiction traffic stop in Center Line, a case that led the city to pay a $400,000 pre-lawsuit civil settlement, as Hoodline reported at the time.
More recently, former Warren officer James Burke went on trial in Macomb County Circuit Court in June on double-manslaughter charges tied to an off-duty crash on Schoenherr Road in September 2024 that killed two men, with prosecutors alleging he was driving 114 mph, according to Hoodline's earlier coverage of that case.
How Other Michigan Cases Have Been Handled
Common-law misconduct charges have been used elsewhere in Michigan for on-duty sexual allegations. In June 2025, the Michigan Attorney General's Office charged a former Norway police officer with two felony counts of common-law misconduct in office under MCL 750.505 over alleged on-duty sexual activity and improper database usage, according to a Michigan Department of Attorney General release, in a case referred to state prosecutors by local sheriff and state police investigators after that officer resigned.
It remains unclear whether the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office issued a formal declination memo explaining why it did not pursue charges against the Warren officer, whether the Michigan Attorney General or federal authorities are reviewing the matter, or whether MCOLES was formally notified of the internal investigation once the officer separated from the department. Those questions have not been publicly answered.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and state lawmakers have repeatedly pushed reform legislation that would expand MCOLES' licensing authority so the board could revoke certifications for serious misconduct even without a felony conviction, according to Bridge Michigan. Under current law, MCOLES lacks the statutory authority to revoke licenses based solely on an administrative resignation or uncharged misconduct — a gap that leaves cases like this one without a clear path to keeping the officer off future police rosters.
Turning Point, established in 1980, operates as Macomb County's sole dedicated domestic violence and sexual assault crisis agency, offering emergency shelter, advocacy, and a 24-hour crisis hotline for survivors, per the Macomb County Bar Association. The organization works alongside county law enforcement and prosecutors to support crime victims, including in cases where the accused wears a badge.
