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Charles Pugh is arrested in New York.
Charles Pugh's relationships with minors apparently were no secret to his family.
Phillip Pugh of Detroit, an uncle, tells Fox 2 that family members warned the former Detroit councilman about the potential danger of his actions. The relative spoke after his nephew was criminally charged this week with allegedly having sexual relations with an underage teenage boy.
Charles Pugh was a reporter and anchor at Fox 2 at the time of the alleged encounters in 2003-04. He was elected city council president in 2009.
"I'm sure he knew better. Before my mother passed away, she warned him [about] the behavior," Phillip Pugh tells Taryn Asher through his front door. His face isn't shown by the station.
"She says that that type of behavior is unacceptable because these are children," Pugh adds, referring to his mother. "These are the most sacred things we have on earth is our children."
"This is not only a bad choice on his part," Pugh continues. "I feel sorry for the young man that this has basically ruined his life too."
Pugh, 44, was arrested Thursday morning in New York City on six charges of sexually assaulting a teenage male in Wayne County between September 2003 and May 2004. The teen was 14 when the encounters began. He is now 27.
The case is unrelated to the ex-student who successfully sued Pugh last year in federal court after the councilman made sexual advances. Pugh ran a mentoring program for Detroit students, which is where the student met Pugh.
In this case, the teen met Pugh for the first time in 2003 when he went to the Fox 2 news station with a theater group to perform, the prosecutor's office says in a media release. Pugh was a Fox 2 reporter and anchor at the time.
The teen approached Pugh about an internship and they exchanged phone numbers, the release says.
The teen did not work as an intern at Fox 2, but during the summer of 2003, at Pugh’s invitation, the teen went to Pugh’s Detroit apartment several times, authorities stated.
Pugh and the the teen kept in touch by phone, and text messages. He was arraigned in New York on Thursday and is expected to be extradited to Michigan in July.
