Sex offender case leads Dillon campaign to question Bernero leadership

Convicted sex offender fugitive Adrian Hill from a photo on his Facebook page

CORRECTION: The Bernero administration has contacted the Michigan Messenger to correct the claim that Bernero was responsible for cuts to pre-trial services that led to the release of Adrian Hill. In fact, the administration stated, the 54-A court where Hill was arraigned never had a pre-trial services department. A review of Heywood’s recorded interview confirmed that Ingham County District Attorney Stuart Dunnings III said that pre-trial services were responsible in that court for making sure a defendant’s criminal record got to the judge at the arraignment and that budget cuts had eliminated those pre-trial services at the 54-A court. Though this has turned out to be incorrect, two public officials confirmed the information, and the Bernero administration did not respond to several requests for comment prior to publication.

Bernero staff also points out that the arraignment of Adrian Hill was handled not by Judge Alderson but by Magistrate Judge Millmore. All of the court documents Heywood had access to at the time were signed by Judge Alderson, and at no time in his conversation with two court officials was Judge Millmore’s name mentioned. We acknowledge the error.

LANSING — The gubernatorial campaign of House Speaker Andy Dillon says budget cut decisions authorized by Lansing Mayor Virgil Bernero have put public safety in jeopardy.

“We’re talking about the safety of the residents of the Lansing area and this is an example where Virg Bernero’s budget cuts resulted in a violent criminal being let out on the streets on a $250 personal recognizance bond. It is unacceptable,” said T.J. Bulcholz, communications director for Dillon’s gubernatorial campaign.

The issue comes to the forefront as a result of Michigan Messenger’s investigation of Adrian Hill. Hill is a convicted sex offender who had failed to register with the state for the past three years. That investigation helped Lansing Police locate and apprehend him, but he was released on a very small bond almost immediately despite a long track record of violent and predatory crimes because the judge did not know of his extensive record.

Bernero authorized the elimination of pre-trial services positions in the court two years ago, and Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III says that department would have been responsible for making sure that a Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN) criminal background history was included in the court files when Hill was arraigned.

That document was not included in the file given to the judge for his arraignment. Court officials said that if it had been, Hill’s extensive criminal history as well as his failure to show up in another court jurisdiction for a hearing on driving without a license would likely have changed Judge Louise Alderson’s bond recommendations.

Budget cuts should prioritize

Bucholz, the Dillon spokesman, said all municipalities were facing budget cuts and reductions in state revenue sharing aid because of “economic challenges.”

“But leaders have to make tough decisions about priorities,” Bucholz said. “What leaders have to have in the equation is that it (budget cuts) must at all times protect public safety.”

Bucholz said the evidence shows Bernero and his administration clearly did not factor public safety into the equation when it recommended and approved the cuts to the 54-A District Court staffing.

“I am not convinced that entered into his decision,” says Bucholz. He called the decision “troubling” and “concerning.”

And Dillon’s campaign is not alone in questioning Bernero’s commitment to public safety.

Lansing City Council woman Carol Wood — who unsuccessfully challenged Bernero for the Mayor’s office last year — was emphatic when asked if Bernero’s budgets reflected a commitment to protecting public safety.

“No,” she replied succinctly. Asked if those decision were endangering the public, Woods responded, “Yes.”

She and Bucholz both point to the Lansing Police Department as proof of budgetary woes impacting the public safety in the city.

Records show that city has 238 sworn officer positions, in all ranks from captain to patrol officer. But 11 of those positions, including 7 patrol officers, two detectives and two sergeants posts are currently empty. The current budget recommendation, which goes into effect July 1, shows the city expects an additional 16 officers to retire in the next fiscal year.

This information comes out as the city is struggling with an upswing of crime, including one stretch of time last month in which three murders occurred in 33 hours.

“Absolutely this impacts public safety,” say Bucholz of the unfilled police positions. “This has to raise questions about what Virgil Bernero’s budget priorities really are.”

Wood notes that the tight budgets have delayed the “front loading” of new officers into the department. She notes that it takes at least six months to clear an officer from another department for hiring and training at the city, while it takes at least 12 months for a new officer with no training or experience. The city, she says, used to plan on retirements and begin hiring a year before those retirements occurred so officers were ready to fill the empty slots. But because of budget cuts, the city is no longer doing that, leaving positions unfilled for longer times.

And leaving those posts open is also impacting the way police are doing their jobs, she notes. In one case, she notes how criminal charges in a shooting at a motorcycle club were dismissed when witnesses, including the victim, failed to show up in court. She said if the department had adequate funding, and a full compliment of officers, it would have been likely detectives would have picked up the witnesses and made sure they showed up for the hearing. She also said officers have been directed to stop taking personal property crime reports when the damage or missing items are less than $2,500.

“That means people have to go to the precinct and find an officer to file a complaint,” Wood says. “I think you can follow a trend where crime hasn’t gone down, but the reports for them have because of this.”

Hill’s predatory history and current access to children

Access to the facts of this case might have persuaded Alderson that Hill was a far greater danger to the community than he seemed at the time. While police officials in Lansing said Hill was convicted of sending pornography to a minor over the internet, a review of his 2004 case shows it was far more than that.

According to those records, reviewed by Michigan Messenger at the Ingham County Circuit Court, Hill spent nearly two months in communication with an officer working for the Michigan State Police Internet Crimes team. Hill thought that Sgt. Brian Kent McManus of the Lansing Community College Police Department was a 13-year-old girl named Mary Laws who was a freshman at Lansing’s Everett High School.

According to a transcript of the preliminary hearing, Hill sent more than 30 e-mails to Laws. Some of them were explicit, referencing specific sexual acts. At one point, Hill wrote that he hoped the 13-year-old Laws could handle him because he was a “freak,” and loved “having sex for hours and hours.” After nearly two months of communications, Hill arranged to meet the 13-year-old at a local park. He specifically told Laws he was meeting her for oral sex. He was arrested at the park, where he claimed Laws had identified herself as an 18-year-old, and had come onto him.

Hill was charged with accosting a minor, using a computer to commit a crime, and being a habitual offender, second offense. He plead guilty to one count of accosting or soliciting a minor and was ordered to spend 270 days in jail. He was given 19 days credit for time already served and allowed a 90 day suspended sentence upon paying $520 in court costs and fees. He was also ordered to register with the Sex Offender Registry until 2030.

Lansing Police say he stopped registering in January of 2007. He was required by state law to register every three months until 2030. And while he failed to register a total of 12 times, he was only charged with one misdemeanor count of failing to register. The charge carries a maximum 93-days in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

The court records show a long record of violent and predatory crimes, beginning with a 1995 conviction for armed robbery. According to testimony in that case, Hill implied he had a gun and said, “I’m gonna start blowing people away,” when a pizza delivery driver from Poppa Leo’s Pizza refused to refund his payment for a mixed up pizza order. The records show he was convicted by a jury.

But records from that case show Hill was convicted in Eaton County Circuit Court in October of 1990 for the felony charge of attempted embezzlement by agent or trustee over $100. That conviction did not show up in LEIN records at 54-A District Court. He also had a 2000 conviction for disorderly conduct and a 2004 conviction for domestic violence.

Since his arrest on April 7, Hill has registered his residence at a home in Jackson, officials in that city say. That home is also the location of his wife’s day care center. Police in Jackson say there is no licensed day care facility at the location, but Hill had been advertising on his Facebook page for people to bring their children to his wife’s day care facility.

This is also the same location where Hill was apprehended on April 7. Michigan State Police told WLNS, the Lansing CBS affiliate, that when they arrested Hill there were numerous children in the home.

Officials from the Bernero campaign refused to return multiple e-mails and phone calls seeking comment for this story.