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The lady who filed a police grievance alleging she was raped repeatedly by former Michigan Home speaker Lee Chatfield has been recognized as his sister-in-law.
The accuser, Rebekah Chatfield, instructed native outlet Bridge Michigan that the lawmaker had first assaulted her when she was a 15-year-old highschool pupil relationship his brother; he was allegedly an grownup on the time. The abuse allegedly first passed off at Gaylord Northern Michigan Baptist Bible Church round 2010.
Rebekah Chatfield claimed that the assaults persevered for roughly a decade—via the summer season of 2021—and that the politician even assaulted her inside his workplace on the state capitol.
“He destroyed me, and has managed my life since I used to be 15-16,” she stated.
Lee Chatfield was first elected to the Michigan Home of Representatives in 2014. He went on to develop into the youngest speaker of the Home in additional than 100 years, based on his biography on the state social gathering's web site.
Previous to his election, he served as a trainer, males’s soccer coach and athletic director on the faculty the place the alleged assaults first passed off.
Chatfield left workplace in 2020 due to Michigan’s time period limits; he went on to function CEO of the financial growth group Southwest Michigan First, however resigned following controversy over his monitor report on LGBTQ points.
In an announcement to Bridge Michigan, the previous politician’s lawyer, Mary Chartier, vehemently denied the rape allegations.
“He had affairs whereas he was married, together with a sexual relationship with the lady who's now claiming she was raped,” she acknowledged, “however they have been each consenting adults.
“Mr. Chatfield deeply regrets the selections he has made. It has triggered nice ache to his spouse and household, and they're working via this collectively. However he didn't assault this lady in any method throughout their years-long grownup relationship.”
Police are investigating the accusations.