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Lisa Underwood
2015-2017 - Eaton County SD Clerk Kellie Bartlett (wife of Potterville PD Chief Shane Bartlett) had an affair with an Eaton county SD deputy.
Spring 2017 - Eaton County SD deputy broke off his relationship with Bartlett and requested she "cease contact with him."
2017-2018 - Bartlett did not stop contacting the sheriff deputy. The deputy informed his supervisor of Bartlett's stalking and the department began an investigation.
- Bartlett stalked the deputy and sent a nude photo of him to his current girlfriend
- She allegedly created a fake email account and Facebook profile for the deputy, and accessed his Gmail account without his consent or knowledge.
- Barlett repeatedly tried to contact the deputy's current girlfriend
- She used resources at the sheriff's department to download police reports and to look up personal information on the deputy
- Throughout the summer of 2017, Bartlett sent "numerous harassing and threatening text messages to him," despite repeated requests to stop.
- She used work computers to find and inspect internal investigations that she was the primary subject of
- Bartlett faked a note from a a physician in order to receive compensation for time off from the Eaton County Sheriff's Office (identity theft charge)
2017-2018 - Lisa Underhill (Co-Defendant) - The deputy's ex-girlfriend. Underhill and Bartlett created a fake Facebook profile for the deputy using his personal identifying information and also created a fake email address in the deputy's name.
December 2017 - Bartlett was fired from the sheriff's office.
January 2018 - Bartlett filed a complaint with the Michigan State Police, alleging the deputy had sexually assaulted her in March 2017. The investigation, however, determined Bartlett was a "willing and consenting partner in this act".
September 21, 2018 - Kellie Bartlett charged with making a false rape allegation against an Eaton County Sheriff's Office deputy. Bartlett was charged 10 felonies and four misdemeanors
Bartlett was arraigned on charges of:
- Two counts of using a computer to commit a crime
- Two counts of identity theft
- Three counts of unauthorized access to a computer
- One count felony conspiracy
- One count false report of a felony
- Two counts misdemeanor stalking
- One count of intentional dissemination of sexually explicit visual material
- Two misdemeanor counts of using a computer to commit a crime
September 21, 2018 - Co-defendant in the case, Lisa Underhill. Bartlett and Underhill were accused of creating a fake Facebook profile for the deputy using his personal identifying information, and creating a fake email address in his name. Underhill was charged with:
- Using a computer to commit a crime
- Conspiracy to have unauthorized access to a computer
- Conspiracy to commit identity theft
- Identity theft
- Stalking
October 2018 - Bartlett was charged with an additional charge of aggravated stalking - she continued to stalk the deputy after she was criminally charged for filing a false rape
February 11, 2019 - Co-defendant Lisa Underhill pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of attempted unlawful posting of a message on a computer.
May 01, 2019 - Potterville Police Chief Shane Bartlett (husband of Kellie Bartlett) was charged with:
- Common Law Offense/Misconduct in Office
- Lying to a Peace Officer
- False Report of a Felony (*Kellie Bartlett filed a false complaint with Michigan State Police in January 2018, saying a deputy had sexually assaulted her in March 2017. *)
Shane Bartlett faced up to five years in prison for the misconduct charge, four years in prison for lying to a police officer and four years in prison for false report of a felony.
May 2019 - Chief Shane Bartlett was put on administrative leave. He was fired from his job as police chief after he was charged.
August 2019 - Kellie Bartlett attempted to have Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt disqualified from her criminal case. Kellie Bartlett's previous attorney, Lucas Dillon, disputed Bartlett's claims against Nakfoor-Pratt.
September 2019 - Judge ruled that prosecutor Nakfoor-Pratt who charged Bartlett with filing a false report of rape was not biased in the case.
December 2019 - Kellie Bartlett pled guilty. Originally charged with 16 charges, pled guilty to three felonies and two misdemeanors: filing of a false police report, unauthorized access to a computer, identity theft, stalking and lying to a police officer
January 2020 - Shane Bartlett's preliminary hearing.
January 2020 - Kellie Bartlett filed a complaint against Nakfoor-Pratt with the Attorney Grievance Commission. Included in Bartlett's complaint were full-page nude photos of Bartlett and the deputy.
December 2020 - Kellie Bartlett's sentencing: 15 months probation
Charlotte woman charged with falsely accusing deputy of rape will stand trial on 10 felonies
Lansing State Journal
February 11, 2019
CHARLOTTE — A Charlotte woman charged with accusing an Eaton County Sheriff's Office deputy of rape will stand trial after she waived her preliminary hearing Friday.
Kellie Bartlett, 35, is facing 10 felonies and four misdemeanors in connection with the report police say was false.
Bartlett filed a complaint with Michigan State Police in January, reporting that the deputy had sexually assaulted her in March 2017. The investigation, however, determined Bartlett was a "willing and consenting partner in this act," Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Erik Darling testified in a hearing that led to criminal charges.
Barry County Judge Michael Schipper bound Bartlett's case over to circuit court Friday after Bartlett waived her preliminary hearing. Her case is being heard by a Barry County judge because Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd recused his office.
A second woman, the deputy's ex-girlfriend, Lisa Underhill, pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of attempted unlawful posting of a message on a computer. The State Journal is not naming the deputy because he has not been charged with a crime.
Underhill, 48, tried to make the deputy feel frightened and harassed, she said in court Friday as a part of her plea. She's set to be sentenced at 9 a.m. March 26.
She initially was charged with using a computer to commit a crime, conspiracy to have unauthorized access to a computer, conspiracy to commit identity theft, identity theft and stalking. All but stalking are felony charges. All those charges have been dismissed with her no contest plea.
Bartlett and Underhill are accused of creating a fake Facebook profile for the deputy using his personal identifying information, Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt said. They also created a fake email address in his name, she said.
Bartlett worked at the sheriff's office from 2008 through December 2017, when she was fired. She was in a relationship with the deputy from late 2015 through spring 2017.
After they broke up, she began stalking the deputy, Darling testified. She repeatedly tried to contact him and his current girlfriend, despite repeated requests to stop.
In January Bartlett told the State Journal she continued to contact the deputy, in part, because she had loaned him money and wanted him to repay it. She said she didn't initially report the alleged sex assault because she thought she'd be accused of lying.
"I felt like I kept getting the treatment that I’m just a scorned woman, that I’m just crazy and I think if I had come out with it at that time it would have looked even worse," Bartlett said. "I think it would have just been chalked up to that.”
She said she decided to report the incident after the sheriff's office fired her because she no longer feared losing her job.
Although the deputy was under investigation for sexual assault, he was never taken off patrol or put on administrative leave, Nakfoor Pratt said. Eaton County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Jerri Nesbitt and Sheriff Tom Reich declined to comment on the deputy's status during the investigation.
Bartlett is charged with:
- Two counts of using a computer to commit a crime
- Two counts of identity theft
- Three counts of unauthorized access to a computer
- One count felony conspiracy
- One count false report of a felony
- Two counts misdemeanor stalking
- One count of intentional dissemination of sexually explicit visual material
- Two misdemeanor counts of using a computer to commit a crime
Records: Prosecutor threatened to charge Charlotte woman's husband if she didn't plead guilty
Lansing State Journal
August 21, 2019
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comments from Kellie Bartlett's former attorney disputing allegations made by her current attorney. It has also been corrected to reflect Lisa Underhill's relationship to the deputy.
LANSING — A Charlotte woman accused of lying to police about being raped said the prosecutor assigned to her case threatened to bring criminal charges against her husband if she did not plead guilty, according to a motion filed to disqualify the prosecutor.
Kellie Bartlett's previous attorney, Lucas Dillon, disputes that account.
Bartlett, of Charlotte, is facing 16 charges related to her clerk job at the Eaton County Sheriff's Office and her report to Michigan State Police that a sheriff's deputy raped her.
Bartlett was charged in September by Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt, who the Attorney General's office appointed as a special prosecutor because Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd recused his office.
Bartlett's attorney, Neil Rockind, asked to disqualify Nakfoor Pratt because she:
- Made herself into a necessary witness by conducting independent investigations into Bartlett as well as destroying evidence.
- Created an appearance of "impropriety and exceeded the scope of her authority on multiple occasions," one of which occurred when she filed out-of-county charges without the Attorney General appointing her as special prosecutor on the case.
- Intervened in a family court matter.
- Threatened to charge Bartlett's husband, Shane Bartlett, if she did not accept a plea deal, and followed through with her threat.
- Withheld discovery from a previous defense attorney.
- Took an "extremely personal interest" in Kellie Bartlett's prosecution.
- Did not function as would be expected of a neutral prosecutor.
- Nakfoor Pratt denies any wrongdoing in Bartlett's case.
"All I’ve done in this case, the only thing I’ve done in the last year, is my job," Nakfoor Pratt said. "I stand by my charges."
She would not go into detail about the allegations, saying she'd rather wait and file her response to the motion in writing.
Police determined Bartlett's rape report was a lie partially because of texts exchanged with her husband the morning after she said she was raped.
The texts were "sexual in nature and mock(ed) the sexual encounter she had with (the deputy)," Michigan State Police Detective Erik Darling said at a hearing that led to criminal charges for Shane Bartlett.
"Had (Kellie) Bartlett been a victim of (sexual assault), these messages could be considered so grossly inappropriate as to shock the conscience," Darling said.
Bartlett was charged with:
- Five counts of using a computer to commit a crime
- Two counts of identity theft
- Three counts of unauthorized access to a computer
- Conspiracy to commit identity theft
- False report of a felony
- Two counts of stalking
- Intentional dissemination of sexually explicit visual material
- Aggravated stalking
Threats against her husband
Shane Bartlett, who at the time was the chief of police in Potterville, was charged with misconduct in office, lying to a police officer and false report of a felony. His charges are connected to his wife's charge of filing a false rape report.
Rockind said Nakfoor Pratt approached Kellie Bartlett's former attorney, Dillon, and told him Shane Bartlett was being investigated. She offered Kellie Bartlett a plea deal, and said if she accepted it, "the investigation and potential charges against her husband, Shane, would cease."
Dillon, however, said Nakfoor Pratt never came close to making any threats against Shane Bartlett. Shane Bartlett was not discussed in plea negotiations, Dillon said.
"Shane was being charged regardless," Dillon said. "To say that anything in Shane's case hinged on Kellie's charges...I will testify that that's a complete lie."
Rockind said in the motion that Nakfoor Pratt attempted to "leverage (Kellie's) husband's spotless criminal record and freedom and career...in order to convince her to plead guilty to a number of felonies."
Shane Bartlett was fired from his job as police chief after he was charged.
'Animosity' toward Bartlett
Even at hearings that have nothing to do with Kellie Bartlett, Nakfoor Pratt introduced Kellie Bartlett's alleged wrongdoings into the narrative, Rockind wrote.
At co-defendant Lisa Underhill's sentencing for attempted unlawful posting of a message on a computer, Nakfoor Pratt spent time detailing the things she believed Kellie Bartlett had done wrong, Rockind wrote. At Shane Bartlett's arraignment, she "went on a long tangent" about Kellie Bartlett as they tried to determine his bail.
When Shane Bartlett's attorney, Matt Newberg, requested the deputy's personnel file, Nakfoor Pratt "spent considerable time focusing her arguments on Kellie Bartlett — who had nothing to do with Mr. Bartlett's request for said documents," Rockind wrote.
"There's a clear pattern here," Rockind wrote. "At all turns, the Barry County Prosecutor always comes back around to focusing all of her energy and wrath on Ms. Bartlett."
Dillon said this, again, is untrue. He did not notice any animosity toward Kellie Bartlett, and said there was no indication that Nakfoor Pratt cared more about this case than others.
Appearance at a custody hearing
Nakfoor Pratt also passed notes to the deputy Bartlett accused of raping her and his attorney at a Friend of the Court hearing for a custody case between the deputy and Underhill, according to the motion and transcripts from the hearing. Those notes were subsequently destroyed.
Underhill is the deputy's ex-girlfriend. The State Journal is not naming the deputy because he has not been charged with a crime.
The FOC hearing involves all the same parties and significantly overlaps with Bartlett's criminal case, Rockind wrote in the motion.
In addition, at the custody hearing — which Rockind said Nakfoot Pratt had no reason to attend in the first place — the prosecutor interrupted the hearing and asked for a recess to tell the judge that Underhill was lying.
"This is not normal or routine," Rockind wrote. "In fact, this is unprecedented...The Barry County Prosecutor is clearly way more emotionally connected to this case than she will admit and her improper and unethical conduct...demonstrates exactly that."
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