Lee Chatfield

The search at Chatfield’s northern Michigan home comes amid an investigation into allegations of sexual assault.

An investigation that began with a sexual-assault complaint against the former Michigan House Speaker has expanded to financial records tied to campaign and nonprofit funds, and the roles of two close Chatfield associates, Rob and Anne Minard.

After Pastor Rusty Chatfield refused to cooperate with Michigan State Police investigators, officers obtained a warrant to seize “any and all” documents related to Lee Chatfield’s employment at the church and school.

The renewed ethics push would ban junkets and relatives on payroll and comes on the heels of allegations that the former House speaker misused political funds and traveled frequently.

Stephanie Chatfield released a statement Thursday acknowledging her husband’s infidelities, including with sister-in-law Rebekah Chatfield. But she challenged Rebekah’s account that Lee assaulted her as an underage student.

Troopers have executed at least two search warrants in the past week of associates of the former House speaker, who is under investigation following sex abuse allegations.

Anne and Rob Minard were senior staffers for the former House speaker. She ran a nonprofit tied to Chatfield that spent nearly a half-million on travel, while a business connected to the pair was paid $1 million by Republicans.

The Michigan Senate is negotiating changes to House approved ethics reforms and considering tighter rules for political funds in the wake of sexual and financial allegations against former House Speaker Lee Chatfield.

A spokesperson for Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office said the agency is assisting state and local police following allegations that the former Michigan House speaker sexually assaulted a then-underage student at the Christian school where he taught.

The former House speaker and associates raised millions in campaign cash and dark money. Now, spending on food, travel and a connected company is under scrutiny as he faces assault claims.

Michigan law requires educators to immediately report suspected abuse. But when a 13-year-old told Northern Michigan Christian Academy officials her teacher sexually assaulted her in 2004, they didn’t call police or child protection workers.

Lawyers for Rebekah Chatfield are racing to ensure that no records relating to her claim that Lee Chatfield sexually assaulted her are destroyed as her legal team gathers evidence for a possible lawsuit against the former Michigan House speaker.

“You can’t believe everything you read in a newspaper,” pastor Rusty Chatfield told congregants at his northern Michigan church, two days after Bridge Michigan published a report in which Lee Chatfield was accused of sexually assaulting a teen at the affiliated Christian school.

House leadership Saturday ordered lawmakers and staff to preserve records on the former speaker, who faces sexual assault allegations. The order was spurred by allegations in a Bridge Michigan article Friday, which includes lengthy interviews with his accuser.

She said Chatfield groomed and then assaulted her when she was a 15- or 16-year-old student at a Chatfield family-run Christian school in northern Michigan where he taught. She said the assaults continued for years before she filed a police report in December.

The business group isn’t saying if the former House speaker got a severance after quitting, but it is taking stock of the controversy his hiring engendered. ‘It’s abundantly clear that the search process fell below standards.’

The former House Speaker submits a letter saying he can’t ‘apologize for various conservative beliefs I espoused while in office,’ as groups withdraw funding over his opposition expanding LBGTQ rights.

As Republican Speaker of the House, Chatfield rose to political prominence through his opposition to gay marriage. But after backlash to his hire as CEO of an economic development group, Chatfield said he’ll support the group’s endorsement of adding LGBT protections to state law.

At least 8 percent of state lawmakers have had the coronavirus, nearly double the rate of the state as a whole, according to totals released Wednesday. Lawmakers are under scrutiny following a hearing last week that featured two attorneys for President Donald Trump who now have the coronavirus.

Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield reversed a decision to hold more House sessions as additional lawmakers sought tests and quarantine after possible contact with an infected staffer.