Detroit Schools Reach Settlement in Lawsuit Against Former City Council President

A young man alleges ex-Detroit Councilman Charles Pugh offered money and other favors in exchange for explicit videos.

Charles Pugh

The Detroit Public School system has reached a settlement with a young man suing the district and former City Council President Charles Pugh over alleged inappropriate sexual behavior.

The lawsuit alleges that Pugh used money and other favors in an attempt to obtain sexually-charged videos from an 18-year-old who was part of a mentoring program the former Council President was involved with at Frederick Douglass Academy.

The suit on behalf of the young man accuses Pugh of trying to “groom him in preparation for making sexual advances.”

A trial over the allegations is now underway and the young man is suing both Pugh and the Detroit Public School system, seeking at least $1 million.

Or he was until school officials announced they had reached an undisclosed settlement in the case. That leaves Pugh as the sole defendant.

Pugh, who now lives in New York and is appearing in the trial only through videotaped testimony, counters that he never had unsupervised access to students.   

Author

  • Quinn Klinefelter is a Senior News Editor at 101.9 WDET. In 1996, he was literally on top of the news when he interviewed then-Senator Bob Dole about his presidential campaign and stepped on his feet.