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AG Nessel examining past cases of former assistant after reports he slept with victim of his cases

Published  September 13, 2019 10:37pm EDT
News
FOX 2 Detroit

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Attorney General Dana Nessel is looking into past sexual assault cases run by a former assistant after reports came out he was sleeping with a victim of those cases.

Before Brian Kolodziej was hired by former Attorney General Bill Schuette, he worked at the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office in the sex crimes unit. The same unit that he was evenutally pulled from for having relationships with rape victims.

"So when this came out I, wasn't surprised at all because of what had happened before," said Criminal Defense Attorney Nicole Blank-Becker.

Last week, Nessel announced in a press conference that Kolodziej had admitted to the acts.

 "Mr. Kolodziej admitted to engaging in the relationship," said Attorney General Dana Nessel. 

 

Blank-Becker, speaking exclusively with FOX 2, said while she was head of the sex crimes unit at the Macomb County Prosecutor's office, employees confided in her about strange behavior between Kolodjziej  and female victims in cases he was working.

"The victim advocates report - one of them in particular - reported to me for example, she said that he was getting love letters from a victim and a mom of the victim," Blank-Becker said. "I found out that he was meeting with victim's alone at their house and that's just not the way it's supposed to be done."

In one instance, he was allegedly spotted sitting in a car after hours alone with a female victim.

Following those reports, Blank-Becker reported the behavior to Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith. 

In a statement, Smith said:

However, Blank-Becker said she took him off the sex crimes unit because "of all the things I either saw or were told or followed up on." While she can't definitively say he was sexually involved with the victims in the past, there were glaring red flags that showed up during his time at Macomb County.

"I think it is very important to find out, are there other victims that felt this way," said Blank-Becker

Kolodziej also worked in the Genesee County Prosecutor's Office. However, Prosecutor David Leyton has told FOX 2 they are unaware of any inappropriate behavior between Kolodziej, but are now looking into it.