Charles Pugh
In 2013, in the midst of Detroit's battle with bankruptcy, Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh vanished. Not long after there were reports of him being spotted in Seattle, and later New York, where he now lives.
On Thursday, in a civil trial in U.S. District Court in Detroit, Pugh explained why he split town in 2013 in a taped video deposition that was played to jurors. An ex-Detroit public school student is suing Pugh who mentored him, alleging that Pugh sexually harassed him and tried grooming him to be a sexual partner.
Charles Pugh says he fled because he knew the city and the nation would soon learn what he had done with an 18-year-old high school student, according to a report by Jennifer Chambers of the Detroit News.
“I was embarrassed. It was a very stressful time for me. It was difficult walking around streets having conversations about anything ... knowing the country was about to find out about this horrible thing that I’ve done ... I had to get out of here,” Pugh testified in the video. Pugh, who lives in New York, has chosen not to attend the trial.
Pugh convinced the student to provide a video of himself masturbating for money.
The teen texted Pugh, saying he didn’t want to make the video because “it feels weird” but “I really need that money,” according to the deposition, the News reports.
The next day, Pugh texted back: “Just make it man. stop being scared. you’ll be fine."
On Wednesday, in what came as a surprise, the Detroit Public Schools, which was named as a defendant in the suit, settled a day after opening statements, for $350,000. The school district is no longer a co-defendant in the case.
