Former state Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat are now accused felons, and their tawdry tale moves to criminal court.

Charges of perjury and official misconduct are lodged against the disgraced pair of ex-legislators, who slithered out of Lansing five months ago after he resigned and she was booted by House colleagues.

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Ex-Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat, back when they had reasons to smile before last August.

Atty. Gen. Bill Schuette dropped the bombshell at a Lansing news briefing, where he said arrest warrants are issued for the two past politicians. Each has until next Wednesday to appear for arraignment at Lansing district court, their attorneys were told. 

Schuette's appearance was to give the results of an inquiry by his office and the Michigan State Police into whether anyone should be charged criminally for activities related to an extramarital affair and attempted cover-up.

Courser, who represented a Lapeer area district, will be charged with four counts, Chad Livengood writes at The Detroit News, where he broke the scanda;l story last August:

  • A perjury charge for testimony under oath while testifying to a House committee about letting an aide forge his signature on legislation.
  • Three counts of misconduct in office for allegedly lying to the House Business Office, which investigated the lawmakers; for instructing his staff to forge his signature on state documents; and for asking aide Ben Graham to send a fake email to Republicans statewide, which Graham wouldn't do.

Gamrat, who's from West Michigan, is accused of two official misconduct counts.

“This is our system of democracy,” Schuette told reporters, Livingston reports.

“And when you hold the public trust, and there’s questions of misconduct in office and that you lied under oath, those are serious. Those are real.”

The House had asked for an official investigation of potential criminal wrongdoing by the disgraced first-term Republican lawmakers. In addition, the state police looked into Courser's allegations that an unknown person blackmailed him over his affair with Gamrat. Detectives searched records from a prepaid ("burner") cell phone from which Courser and Gamrat said they received threatening texts.

Courser, 43, a married father of four, and Gamrat, 42, a married mother of three, had been outspoken about their Christian faith and morals. Although their districts were across the state, the two combined operations and shared three staffers — an unusual arrangement.

A sexual relationship between them exploded last August when a fired staffer, who balked at sending a phony email, gave The Detroit News a secret audio recording of Courser saying his goal was to "inoculate the herd" — a reference to supporters.

One of the lawmakers' fired aides from Grand Rapids, now a plaintiff in a whistleblower lawsuit against them, says in a Friday afternoon tweet with a link to this article: