Michigan AG Seizes Records From City Officials Tied To ‘Make Your Date’ Scandal
Earlier this week, the Michigan Attorney General’s office issued a search warrant at the City’s IT department.
Michigan’s Attorney General is seizing records related to a Detroit City Hall e-mail deletion scandal, according to a search warrant obtained by 101.9 WDET.
Special agents from the state executed a search warrant last week seeking digital files from Mayor Mike Duggan, chief of staff Alexis Wiley and Chief Development Officer Ryan Friedrichs. The staffers listed in the warrant have been named in a cover-up effort related to the “Make Your Date” pre-natal health care program.
“All we were trying to do was to protect these staff.” – Mayor Mike Duggan
WDET did not receive a reaction to the search from the Mayor’s office. But Duggan previously responded to the issue following a report published by Detroit’s inspector general.
“All we were trying to do was to protect these staff,” Duggan previously said in a statement. “The fact that they did not delete any of their own e-mails, I think is incontrovertible evidence that their only issue was to protect the junior staff.”
The Attorney’s General office would not comment on the search warrant as it is part of an ongoing investigation.
Detroit’s Inspector General reported that city employees “abused their authority” by deleting e-mails related to “Make Your Date” following criticism of the city’s relationship to the program.
WDET received a copy of the search warrant from activist Robert Davis who obtained the document through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The warrant requests e-mails and messages from city officials going back as far as 2014.
Duggan retained staffers involved in deleting emails asking them to undergo training on document retention laws.
