Wayne County Sheriff's deputy resigns after investigation into past criminal sexual offenses

DETROIT – An investigation into former Wayne County Sheriff's Reserve Deputy Mark Zarkin is raising questions from officials from Wayne and Macomb counties.

Zarkin reportedly pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 20-year-old incapacitated woman. He served jail time and had to register as a sex offender.

Zarkin resigned on Feb. 4 after The Detroit Free Press' investigation into his past.

Court documents now show Zarkin asked a judge to overturn his conviction. An assistant Macomb County prosecutor had no objection and Zarkin's sex offense was wiped clean, as if it never happened.

On Thursday, Zarkin agreed to speak to Local 4 and was asked if he used his connections in the community to get his felony conviction overturned.

"No, I hired a lawyer," Zarkin, a former sheriff's deputy, said. "I really don't know much about law and legal things."

As a Wayne County Sheriff's Reserve deputy, Zarkin carried a gun, wore a uniform, drove a sheriff's cruiser and handled a K-9 unit while working at the North American International Auto Show. 

A Wayne County sheriff's background check never picked up that he was on a sex offender registry and that his sex crime conviction was long gone.


About the Authors:

Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.