DETROIT – Former Detroit City Council president Charles Pugh is going on the offensive and asking a federal judge to reveal the identity of his then teenage accuser in a text messaging scandal.
When the scandal broke, the now-former City Council president packed up his bags in the middle of the night and ran out of town.
Pugh faces accusations from a Detroit Public Schools student who attended the Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men and also Pugh's leadership seminar, which he taught at the school.
The male student's attorney claims Pugh was grooming the teen for sex and offering him money in return for the teen to make a sex tape and give it to Pugh. The text conversations between the two are part of the lawsuit against Pugh and the school district.
One thing is clear: Pugh texted the teen a lot and was always offering cash as an incentive to get this student to make a sex tape for him. Exchanges such as the following are common within the texts.
Pugh: "Plus I guess u should know about my straight friend special. LOL. i give $100 for all solo vids my straight friends make for their girls and just happen to let me download lol. So if u ever need extra cash keep that in mind. My friends LOVE me."
The student appears very apprehensive in the messages, but he's also clearly broke and wanting the money. Pugh kept after him.
Pugh: "Just make it man. Stop being scared. You'll be fine!! Your ear won't fall off. LOL. You'll always be fine. I'll always have your back if u have mine. I got u."
Accuser: "So record me getting myself off."
Pugh: "No n****. I thought you were doing it. I can if you want lol, i'm a good camera man lol."
The Detroit Public Schools system also wants the accuser's identity revealed. An attorney for DPS is arguing in court that because the young man did not complain about the text messages and because he texted Pugh back that there is no crime.
The accuser's attorney, of course, does not agree.
"I think anybody who reads these text messages will not reach the same conclusion," said Bill Seiklay, accuser's attorney.