WARREN, Mich. – A Roseville man who served as a high school wrestling referee has been charged with sending inappropriate messages to a teen on social media.
In a case that largely flew beneath the radar for the past six weeks, 43-year-old Stephen Livings was arrested by Warren police on Dec. 19.
“This is a great example of a couple of different lessons learned,” Warren police Sgt. John Gajewski said Wednesday (Feb. 11), “First and foremost, for parents out there, be involved and know what your kids are doing.
“The parents in this case were involved, and that certainly helped,” said Gajewski.
Livings has been a wrestling referee with the MHSAA since 2020 and has also coached middle school wrestling.
He was arraigned last Friday, Feb. 6, in 37th District Court.
It is not known whether the child is a wrestler. Livings is facing charges of using a computer to commit a crime and accosting a child for immoral purposes.
Both of which are felonies that can carry a 10-year prison sentence if convicted.
Gajewski said the inappropriate messages were sent to the teen’s social media DMs and reported by the teen’s parents.
“Members of our Special Victims Unit did a follow-up investigation regarding some inappropriate messaging between Mr. Livings and a juvenile child,” Gajewski said. “Our school resource officer played a big role in helping to get information to our detectives to make a report.”
“This is an adult who has a little bit of a position of power, which again, adds just another layer of impropriety to it,” he said.
Livings, who had no prior criminal record, had worked as an official in numerous MHSAA events around southeast Michigan since 2020.
He was an official at the last two state wrestling championships held at Ford Field in 2024 and 2025.
All 9,500 of MHSAA’s officials are background-checked, and there is a laundry list of offenses that can disqualify a referee.
“We background check all of them when they register for the first time,” Geoff Kimmerly, MHSAA’s head of communications, said. “And then we continue to background check them throughout their time as registered officials.
“We flag anything that has to do with violence or threats of violence, anything that had to do control substances or drugs, and anything that has to deal with embezzlement or financial crimes,” Kimmerly said. “When it’s discovered during the process, they’re pretty much just scratched from the record.”
Livings was immediately and indefinitely suspended after the charges came to light. His attorney hopes that people will let the legal process play out.
“Mr. Livings is presumed innocent under the law,” Donald Andrews, Livings’ attorney, said. “We look forward to challenging the allegations charged by the state and will pursue the truth in the court of law.”
He’s currently out on a $10,000 bond and is due back in court for a probable cause hearing next Thursday, Feb. 19.