Sting operations in Mount Pleasant park raise concerns, ire of gay community

Mission Creek Park, Mt. Pleasant, Mich. (photo: Todd A. Heywood)

A series of arrests in Mission Creek Park in Mount Pleasant have gay activists and leaders expressing concern. The arrests were part of a sting operation conducted jointly by the Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team and the Mt. Pleasant Police Department on Aug. 28 and Sept. 24. The sting operations resulted in the arrests of seven men on charges ranging from lewd and lascivious to disorderly person.

While police officials said the sting operations were necessary because of citizen complaints about sexual activity in the park, police reports obtained by Between the Lines and Michigan Messenger show that only one of the seven men arrested in the sting operations was engaged in sexual activity of any kind. The reports show most engaged only in conversations with undercover officers without explicitly inviting undercover officers to engage in immediate public sex.

Gay leaders in the state cry foul

“It just raises some concerns that people were arrested for stuff that is protected,” said Jay Kaplan, director of the ACLU Michigan’s Gay and Lesbian Project. The protected stuff Kaplan was referencing was right to free speech. Kaplan said the ACLU was still reviewing the police reports obtained by Between the Lines and the Michigan Messenger through a Freedom of Information Act request.

“These arrests are highly suspect,” said Kate Runyon, interim executive director at gay rights nonprofit Triangle Foundation. “At worst, it appears that these men discussed sexual activity. We don’t see the police conducting undercover operations in straight bars and arresting individuals for talking about having a sexual encounter.

“That being said, it is difficult not to see that the Mount Pleasant Police Department is criminalizing gay sexual activity. In the case of the man who mentioned gardening as one of the things he does, the officer noted [in the police report] that it was ‘obvious’ from this man’s ‘actions and comments that he was in the park for some sort of sexual orientation.’ The officer’s use of the word ‘orientation’ is telling –- they are criminalizing sexual orientation –- not [public] sexual activity.”

Of the seven arrested, two had charges dismissed out of hand by a prosecutor. One pleaded guilty and one pleaded no contest to relatively minor charges, and three have hearings scheduled for dates in November.

What do the reports detail?

The cases seem to show that not all the arrests were sound. Two of the seven arrested had their charges dropped.

Below are narratives from the police reports written by the officers on the sting operation about the alleged incidents.

The arrests from Sept. 24 include:

• A 52-year-old white male from Mason arrested on charges of disorderly conduct.

According to the report, the undercover officer was informed by the detective running the operation that a vehicle had pulled into the parking area and a male subject had walked into the woods at the park. The officer walked back into the area and found the man about 40 yards ahead of him. The man kept walking, but according to the report looked back at the officer five times. The man disappeared up the trail, the officer said in his report, but stopped on the trail. The officer caught up with the man and engaged in small talk with the man.

Following the small talk, the man allegedly asked the officer what he preferred, to which the officer said he was shy and “it did not matter to him.” The officer then asked the man what he preferred, to which the man allegedly mentioned a specific sexual act. The officer then asked the man where he wanted to do this, and the man allegedly said “in the woods,” then said he was unaware of a good spot in the woods of the park. The officer then directed the man to another location where he knew additional officers were waiting. Allegedly while the two were walking to the location, the man asked the officer if they could meet at the officer’s place on another day.

Once in view of the additional officers, the officer identified himself as a police officer and arrested the man. The man allegedly told police he had done nothing wrong.

He faces a hearing on a disorderly conduct charge Oct. 29.

• Also on Sept. 24, Mount Pleasant police assisted the BAYANET team in making arrests for two subjects who were later charged with being disorderly persons, sexual conduct.

The supporting report alleged that one man, a 55-year-old Blanchard resident, had exposed himself to the other. The second man, a 38-year-old Mount Pleasant resident, said that he did not see it and that the police should really talk to the other man about exposing himself in public.

The 55-year-old pleaded guilty to the charge and received six months of probation, 40 hours of community service, and fines and costs. The 38-year-old man faces a hearing on Nov. 3.

The Aug. 28 arrests look like this from the police reports:

• A white male who was not identified by age or location allegedly approached the undercover officer in the pavilion at the park. The two had “small talk.” Then the officer got up and walked into the woods. The white male followed, and when the officer sat down on a bench in the woods, the two again started talking and the officer asked what the man was into. He said “all sorts of things.” The officer asked what the man preferred, to which he again allegedly replied, “all sorts of things.” The two again engaged in small talk, and the officer asked the man what he was thinking and what the man meant by “all sorts of things.” The man then told the officer that he meant “all sorts of things,” like “gardening.”

The officer then directed the arrest team to arrest the man for disorderly conduct.

The charges were later dropped by Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick.

• Also on Aug. 28, police arrested a 59-year-old white male from Ohio on charges of lewd and lascivious behavior.

The report shows that an undercover officer walked by the man back in the woods of Mission Creek Park and proceeded to sit down on a bench. The man approached the officer and engaged him in conversation. At one point, the officer writes, the man allegedly asked the officer how he happened to know the “craziest place in town.” The man then allegedly told the officer that he had discovered he could go to this park and see men, and that he “likes guys a lot.” The man then said there were too many park rangers around, to which the officer asked the man what he would do if there were not any park rangers. The man allegedly said he would like to get naked with the officer, that it would be “fun” to be naked in the woods with the officer, at which point the officer identified himself and placed the man under arrest.

The man faces a hearing in Isabella county on Nov. 26 to answer the charges.

• Also on Aug. 28, a white male whose age and location were removed from the reports was arrested on charges of disorderly person.

The officer and the man sat down on a bench, where the man informed the officer he was married with two children. The officer then writes that the man allegedly said that he “hoped I [the officer] was not a cop.”

The officer then asked the man what he was thinking, to which the man allegedly responded “anything.” The officer asked the man what he preferred, to which the man again responded, “anything.” The officer asked the man why he was in the park, to which the man allegedly replied, “probably same reason I [the officer] was.” The officer then asked the man if had come to the park to meet guys before. The man allegedly told the officer this was the first time he had done so, at which point the officer took the man into custody.

Prosecutor Burdick declined to file charges in the case.

• The final report in the stack released by the Mount Pleasant Police Department regards the arrest of a 52-year-old white man from Hillman on charges of lewd and lascivious conduct.

According to the report, an undercover officer passed the subject in the woods and allegedly engaged in “small talk” and the officer sat down on a log. The man allegedly then left, but returned shortly and walked past the officer and into the wood line. The officer followed the man. The officer alleges he saw the man “rubbing his genital area.” The officer continued to move closer to the man, and the officer wrote, “It was obvious that he was pleasuring himself through his clothing.” When the officer was about 10 feet from the man who was still allegedly “pleasuring” himself, the officer identified himself and placed the man under arrest. The man allegedly told the officer that he had done nothing wrong, that he had never exposed himself to the officer.

The man has since pleaded no contest to lewd and lascivious conduct and has been sentenced to fines and court costs.

Burdick declined to discuss the facts of the cases.

A report from the Saginaw News quotes police officials as saying the following about the August and September sting operations:

After the Aug. 29 sting, police said the suspects solicited immoral acts, tried to entice male undercover officers deeper into the woods and “manipulated” themselves publicly.

“Ironically, our experience has been that undercover operations rarely curb public sex,” said Triangle Foundation’s Runyon. “We have found that the most effective strategy is to have uniformed officers patrol the area.

“Triangle Foundation will be investigating this matter to determine if the Mount Pleasant Police Department employed profiling in targeting gay men in these undercover operations,” said Runyon.

“Regardless of the outcome of these cases, we will encourage the Mount Pleasant Police Department to adopt policies that are free from homophobia and protect every person’s first amendment right to freedom of speech.”

The Mount Pleasant Police Department did not return repeated calls asking for comment.

This story is a joint publication with Between the Lines, Michigan’s gay and lesbian news weekly, and Michigan Messenger.