Friske arrested for potentially criminal sexual conduct

Lina Portman2 weeks ago

0 3 minutes read

A heavily redacted case report obtained by the Free Press on Monday indicates that police viewed the investigation into state Rep. Neil Friske, R-Charlevoix, as an investigation into potential first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Friske, who has not been charged with a crime as the investigation into an incident early Thursday in Lansing continues, said on a Michigan radio show Monday that he was “in the process of being trapped”, without explaining how he thought this was happening.

“From the way the events unfolded, it was very clear to me that something was wrong and I was trapped, I was trying to be trapped and I was trapped,” Friske said on the conservative radio show “Your Defending Fathers.” hosted by Randy “Trucker Randy” Bishop, who is a former Antrim County GOP official.

More: Friske talks arrest at Petoskey event: 'excited' not to be in jail

Friske said he could not discuss the details of what happened, but he said he did nothing wrong and had no plans to resign his seat . He said he plans to return to Lansing on Monday to participate, starting Tuesday, in what is expected to be the final week of the legislative session before the summer recess. In a letter his campaign sent to supporters Monday, Friske said he was arrested because of “false allegations” and that he hoped to be exonerated.

The case report, filed Thursday morning hours after Friske's arrest by Lansing police, is almost entirely redacted. The portion that is not redacted indicates that police were treating the case as an investigation into first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a crime defined in part as involving sexual penetration by coercion or force.

Friske was released from the Lansing police station Friday morning and has not been charged with any crime. It's unclear what, if any, criminal charges the lawmaker will face for his first term.

Scott Hughes, a spokesman for Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane, had no update on the investigation when asked Monday for an estimate of how long it would take authorities to decide whether to charge or not accusations.

Documents obtained by the Free Press last week show Lansing police sought criminal charges of sexual assault, assault and weapons offenses against Friske, but did not specify the degree. The report reveals that at least at the investigative stage, police were treating this as first-degree criminal sexual conduct, the most serious of sexual assault charges.

Edwar Zeineh, Friske's Lansing attorney, had no immediate response to the news that Lansing police had investigated him for first-degree criminal sexual conduct. But Zeineh said Friday that his office was conducting its own investigation aimed at convincing prosecutors that Friske should not be charged. He said he hoped to show his client was innocent of any wrongdoing.

Lansing police said a Free Press request under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act was essentially denied, due to the ongoing investigation. “The requested records are inextricably linked to sensitive information, their release would interfere with law enforcement’s ongoing investigative process,” a department official wrote.

Friske was arrested around 2:45 a.m. Thursday in the 2000 block of Windbreak Lane in Lansing, Lansing Police Department Public Information Director Jordan Gulkis previously told the Free Press. Gulkis said officers were initially dispatched to the nearby 2100 block of Forest Road to respond to reports of a man with a gun, “as well as possible shots fired,” a- she said in an email.

Friske is a first-term Republican legislator representing Michigan's 107th District, which covers all of Charlevoix and Emmet counties and parts of Cheboygan, Chippewa and Mackinac counties, spanning both peninsulas. He ran for re-election and is seeking a second term in the House this fall. He owns Friske and Sons Property Management, according to his website.

In Monday's radio interview, Friske appeared to suggest that his political opponents were somehow behind Thursday's incident.

“That’s how these people work,” Friske said.

“I don’t even understand how someone who wants to pretend to be an honest Christian can run this kind of campaign and then live with himself.”

He added: “People see through it. It's a century-old game. It's not even new.”

Parker Fairbairn, a small business owner in Harbor Springs, filed a lawsuit to challenge Friske in the GOP primary election in August.

Fairbairn said in an email Monday that the idea that he had anything to do with Friske's arrest was “absurd.”

“My campaign was all about issues and laws, with no personal attacks,” Fairbairn said.

Alongside Friske and Fairbairn, Jodi Decker of Sault Ste. Marie, filed as a Democrat for the 107th District. Decker ran against Friske as the Democratic candidate in the 2022 election, losing by about 6,000 votes, or 13 percentage points.

Contact Arpan Lobo: [email protected].

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected]. Follow him on X, @paulegan4.

Lina Portman

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