Officially Ruining Reputations with the Mason County Sheriff's Office

[XLFD]

On Tuesday, September 2, 2014, both the Mason County Press (MCP) and the City of Ludington Daily News (COLDNews) reported a story about an incident that happened over the Labor Day weekend on Saturday.  Due to the elapsed time before the story went to press, the incredible similarity between the two accounts, and the way the facts were presented, one could safely presume that the investigating agency, the Mason County Sheriff's Office (MCSO), sent a press release out to the area's media to announce its successful capture of a sexual perpetrator.  Here's the story from the MCP complete with the picture of Bill Stempien:

CUSTER TWP. — A 43-year-old Coldwater, Mich. man was arrested Saturday for allegedly sexually assaulting two girls along the Pere Marquette River. William Joseph Stempien was charged with one count of criminal sexual conduct second degree and one count of CSC fourth degree. He was also charged with possession of analogues, hydrocodone.

On August 30 at 4:48 p.m. a Michigan Department of Natural Resources conservation officer on patrol on Cable Road near Custer Road was flagged down by two young females claiming they had been sexually assaulted.  The conservation officer stayed with the victims until Mason County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived.  A second deputy located the suspect, based on information provided by the Conservation Officer, at the Scottville Riverside Park boat launch, where he was found in possession of hydrocodone pills and eventually arrested, according to Sheriff Kim Cole.

The alleged incident took place at a campsite along the P.M. River in Custer Township where the subjects were all camping.  The suspect is not related to the victims.

The alleged CSC involved touching of the victims.

The reported victims are 12- and 13 year-old girls from southern Michigan.

Stempien was arraigned and released from jail after posting $50,000 cash/surety bond.

http://www.masoncountypress.com/2014/09/02/coldwater-man-arrested-f...

In short order the story with just minor additions was available and featured on TV stations like WOOD TV and several other newspapers including the hometown paper of William Stempien, the Coldwater Daily Reporter. 

An internet search on Bill Stempien of Coldwater in all of its permutations does not reveal anything other than this one recent event about this man.  So if anyone was checking up on him, all they would find is this article along with a non-complimentary mug shot taken after he was picked up from his rustic campsite. 

And why does he have these dozens of news articles alleging very bad things about him dotting the local newspapers and forever on the internet?  Two young girls have made an allegation of being improperly touched by this man to a conservation officer. 

There are plenty of unanswered questions here as to why the two girls (ages 12 and 13) did not tell this to their parent(s) and/or guardians about the contact, what led to the opportunity for this man to touch them both, and whether that touching was incidental, or even if the touching actually happened.  Young girls sometimes tell stories out of revenge, to gain some sort of advantage, or to gain attention to themselves.  If their story turns out to be false at a later time, they generally suffer no repercussions.  But the damage is done to Mr. Stempien whether he is innocent or guilty as sin. 

Todd Johnson of Scottville turned out innocent of similar charges after being labelled by our current sheriff, Kim Cole, on page one of the newspaper as being someone who sexually assaulted a teenage girl on his soccer squad for years.  Innocence doesn't erase that, nor does it make headlines like this does, even when the girl(s) recant.

William Stempien's conduct on Saturday deserves to be investigated impartially and fairly.  Barring any admission of guilt or some other smoking gun, he should not have biased press releases sent out by the prosecutor or the MCSO that taint the potential jury pool against him, and the rest of the world.  Stempien may be the bad guy of which he is portrayed here, but what if he is as innocent as Todd Johnson?  What if the stories of the girls are as specious as Johnson's accuser was, but they don't retract them?  Perhaps Stempien's identity should have been withheld for now (and maybe that arraignment shouldn't have been done so quickly) just like the accusers' identity is.

[Willy]

False accusations of crimes committed are more common than most people think. Knowing what to do, in a situation like that, can be very helpful. http://www.criminal-law-lawyer-source.com/tips/false-accusation.html

[XLFD]

Thanks for that legal advice, Willy. 

Situations like the above incident with Mr. Stempien indicate to me a significant chance for a false accusation being made.  Making minimal assumptions based on the news release info, we have no evidence beyond the assertions of two young children that they were touched inappropriately, and the accused appears to deny it happened (since a confession would be divulged in the news) and his record appears to not indicate previous crimes in the same vein (otherwise that would also be revealed).

I empathize with the investigators of situations like this who need to show sensitivity to the supposed victims and restraint due to the nature of the alleged crime.  But I question the negative press release based on the allegations as a fair and valid way to begin a prosecution.  You won't see the MCP and COLDNews run a press release from Mr. Stempien and his friends declaring his innocence of the crime.

[wildfire]

Now this is something Gov  Snyder needs to be looking at also, more closer just like hearing on the news about the rats, and maggots, flys, in the inmates foods The Aramarks if the company that services a lot of the prisons their foods. ArAmarks employees are  having sex with in mates it is all bad, Then them girls did not tell their parents , it sounds  like to me they just wanted some attention and new if  they lied about this they are going to do that again. And  yes I do believe revenge  was the big factor, and also as you could see their was 2 girls, well their is always someone helping the young girl or teenager with these revenges 

[AQUAMAN]

Thanks for astute reporting again X. At this point in time I haven't seen anything new over the original news post. So, for now anyhow, I'd like not to rush to judgment for either side until all the facts and details are revealed. Once we know that, it shouldn't be rocket science to make a sound call imho. If Stempien is indeed innocent, he should be shouting it from all corners of the earth, vehemently. However, I'll bet his attorney has a gag order on him for now. 

[XLFD]

And that last reason is why press releases like this is heavily unfair to the accused.  Mr. Stempien and his attorney (presuming he has one) have not had a chance to get past the preliminaries of posting bond, while this was popping up all over the place. 

The way this is being marketed, I would have to believe the MCSO thinks they have a weak case against Mr. Stempien if it goes to trial.  Once he sees how Mason County justice works, he may just cop a plea for copping a feel even if he was totally innocent, for fear of getting some serious time.

[AQUAMAN]

Yeah, but at the same time, let's let this thing materialize for what it's worth. Then, and only then, make the informed and just FINAL decision that will be more evident, or will it? I for one, just want real justice here and of course, everywhere. That seems to take time from my observations of late. Just like the Dillon case, it hasn't all come out yet imho. But it sure doesn't look that good of course, right out of the gate. Thanks. 

[XLFD]

Along the same vein comes a story today about a retired Flint police sergeant accused of several counts of assaulting children back in the period from 1996 to 1999.  Normally, I would be distrustful of 15-18 year old charges against most anyone who held a position of trust, but apparently the investigators have found a large amount of child pornography in his possession, likely home-made.  The investigation was done by the Flint Police Department, which seems a little bit odd.

Without such additional incriminating evidence, the case would be difficult to prosecute.  Here's a news article on the topic from Mlive:  http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2014/09/former_flint_poli...

[AQUAMAN]

The fact that 15-18 years has passed in this potential case surprises me, to say the least. That's waaaay past the statute of limitations in such cases, 6-7 years. Plaintiff's can't prove he said-she said, no chemical proofs now. Unless of course they still have proof today that he is a pervert, which they do say exists today on his computer. But can they prove he and he alone put that on his computer, or did it get planted? I wonder. But at the same time, if what the investigators have found thus far are true, then his goose may be cooked. But, don't expect he will NOT get out on BOND before it's over, then disappear? Time will tell. Puzzling episode so far to be sure, and gastly if this is LE at it's best? 

[XLFD]

In the local Frederick Lewis Case, the supposed events happened around a dozen years prior with plenty of records showing that another person was involved with the molestation of a young girl, and that the learning disabled person who was forced to confess after unethical interrogation administered by Jeffrey Hammond of the MSP, Fred Lewis, was told it was his best chance for mercy from a justice system that would believe the non-existent lie-detector test the victim passed rather than his denial.  More sickening is that the original testimony of the victim said the events took place when Mr. Lewis was not even in the state.

The system feels that waiving the statute of limitations in such cases bring justice for the victim, but often lead only to hardcore tactics used against people that generally can't prove their innocence, and are thus found guilty.  I couldn't sleep soundly at night as a prosecutor if I thought there was someone in prison that didn't deserve to be there.