‘There is no cover-up,’ says sheriff of prosecutor’s allegations
by Richard Lamb–Advance Editor
“There is no cover-up. We are not hiding anything,” is the way Presque Isle County sheriff Bob Paschke responded to allegations made by Presque Isle County prosecuting attorney Rick Steiger.
“For there to be a cover-up, we have to be hiding something and we are not hiding anything,” Paschke told the Presque Isle County Advance.
Steiger made his accusations in the form of a letter to the office of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), which was obtained by the Advance this week. He made a “request for investigations” on four points levied against the sheriff, undersheriff Joe Brewbaker and officials from the Michigan State Police (MSP).
The DOJ investigation, Steiger believes, will “reveal that illegal actions have occurred, including cover-ups, tampered evidence, violations of civil rights of citizens at the jail.” The charges point the finger “into the actions of several law enforcement agencies and officers that serve Presque Isle County,” Steiger said in the letter to DOJ dated Aug. 11, 2014.
The prosecuting attorney claims, in the conclusion of his letter to DOJ, that the four situations mentioned in the letter are “merely a snapshot of the corruption that has been prevalent and condoned for decades by those who swore to uphold the law in Presque Isle County.”
“He is throwing allegations around that are totally false and have no merit to them,” Paschke said. The implication, by association to include officials from the past is insulting, Paschke added.
“That is a slap in the face of everyone who ever worked for the county,” Paschke said.
Brewbaker said, “We have done nothing to the man. We have been working on his behalf and have not made allegations against his office. It is sad that it has come to this, with one office making allegations against the other.”
Paschke, Brewbaker and Steiger agreed on one thing—the working relationship between the two offices is strained at this point. That strained relationship could even get worse with a lawsuit Steiger said he may pursue.
In his letter to the DOJ, Steiger says the investigations, which led to his arrest three years ago, were a “campaign to destroy my reputation.”
In December 2011, Steiger was charged with one count of obtaining a prescription for controlled substances from a health care provider by fraud.
The charge came as the result of a Huron Undercover Narcotics Team (HUNT) and MSP investigation into Steiger’s alleged activities of obtaining narcotics prescriptions from multiple physicians.
Steiger contended he was falsely accused and targeted by the MSP and members of HUNT. “The folks that went after me know who they are,” Steiger said after the case against him ended in
“I am not suing Brewbaker or Paschke individually. I have been informed that they may have assisted MSP/HUNT in their attempt to have me arrested. If this is true, I foresee three individuals employed at Presque Isle County Sheriff’s Department (PISD) who will be named in the lawsuit I am pursuing against the state,” Steiger said.
(This is an excerpt from the complete story, which appears in the Oct. 2, 2014 edition of the Presque Isle County Advance.)