'Perverted Pied Piper': Ex-Port Huron mayor convicted of molesting girls gets parole
Port Huron Times Herald
January 06, 2020
https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2020/01/06/ex-port-huron-mayor-convicted-molesting-girls-gets-parole-gerald-ackerman/2824585001/
The former Port Huron mayor dubbed a 'perverted Pied Piper' by his sentencing judge is expected to be paroled March 5, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Gerald 'Ajax' Ackerman, 63, came before the Michigan Department of Corrections' Parole Board Nov. 4, according to the MDOC.
A MDOC spokeswoman said Monday his 24-month parole term carries several conditions.
"He has a number of parole conditions such as registering as a sex offender; Attending treatment programming; Not having verbal, written, electronic or physical contact with any individual 17 or younger or attempt to do so through another person unless he has the written permission of his agent and an adult responsible for that individual is present; Must not reside, work or loiter within 1,000 feet of school property; Must not enter the city of Port Huron without written permission; Must comply with GPS tether monitoring; Must not use or possess alcoholic beverages or other intoxicants; and must consent to a search of his personal property at any time," Holly Kramer, MDOC spokeswoman said in an email.
Kramer said they are still completing the pre-parole investigation process, but Ackerman is expected to be supervised in St. Clair County.
"He received a misconduct for Insolence in 2002, possession of contraband in 2004 and being out of place in 2009," she said.
Ackerman declined an interview with the Times Herald in November.
Former St. Clair County Circuit Judge Peter Deegan sentenced Ackerman in June of 2000 to 18 to 38 years in prison for molesting three young girls in 1998 and 1999. He was sentenced to a year in jail for indecent exposure in an earlier trial that resulted in a hung jury on the sex act charges.
Ackerman denied he molested the children during his sentencing, according to Times Herald reports from the time.
A jury convicted him on charges of having sex and oral sex with 12- and 8-year-old girls, as well as photographing them in sexually explicit positions. Ackerman was also convicted of fondling an 11-year-old girl.
Investigators at the time said the crimes happened at Ackerman's youth center, Clear Choices, which he founded in 1995 and was part of his platform when he served as mayor.
"You truly acted out as a perverted Pied Piper," Deegan said during Ackerman's sentencing in June 2000. "You'll spend at least the next 18 years behind prison walls, and you're no longer a threat to young children."
Ackerman touted himself as a reformed motorcycle bad boy who worked with troubled kids and used the success of his youth center to land him in politics.
He was elected as Port Huron's mayor in 1997 and was seen by many as a symbol of a changing community and the ability to forgive troubled pasts. He resigned from the position after being charged.
Rise and fall of Ajax Ackerman - a timeline
* Summer 1995: Gerald 'Ajax' Ackerman, a recovering alcoholic and small-time trouble-maker in metro Detroit, works to stem youth gang violence in Port Huron. He earns a police award in 1994 for his work with children and opens Clear Choices, a center where he worked with troubled youth and offered a refuge for children, in 1995.
* November 1995: Ackerman, wearing a long beard and hair in a ponytail, runs for City Council and wins the seventh and final seat. But a recount shows a tie, and he loses a lottery to A. Herb Robbins. Ackerman is later appointed to council when James Relken resigns in 1997.
* November 1997: Ackerman is the top vote-getter for council and is elected as mayor. He is part of the city's push to comply with federal orders to eliminate sewer overflows.
* April 1998: After learning the donated Clear Choices building must close, Ackerman searches for a new site. He attempts to secure federal funding through grants administered by the city. He withdraws the request when some residents question the activities of Clear Choices during a public hearing. An 18-year-old woman speaks on Ackerman's behalf, who testified a year later that she started a sexual relationship with him that month. The relationship ends in October, about the time she discovers she is pregnant. A year later, she testifies the child is his.
* February 1999: A mother complains to representatives of DARES, a local support center for sexual abuse victims, that she fears her teenage daughter is having an inappropriate relationship with Ackerman. The complaint is ignored.
* April 1999: Ackerman's third wife files for divorce on April 1, five days before he is arrested on charges of molesting young girls at Clear Choices. The charges are based on a one-day investigation stemming from a complaint by a woman who fears his relationship with her daughter.
* October 1999: Ackerman is found guilty on nine counts of indecent exposure and he immediately is sentenced to one year in jail. But the jury deadlocks on the major sex charges against him, forcing a new trial.
* May 2000: Times Herald photographers Tony Pitts and Mark Rummel are handcuffed and detained for about 20 minutes in Judge Peter Deegan's empty jury room before they were ordered to surrender their film and released after taking photos of jurors outside the courthouse following the second trial where Ackerman is found guilty on all charges.
* June 2000: Deegan sentences Ackerman to 18 to 38 years in prison for molesting three young girls in 1998 and 1999.
* Nov. 4, 2019: Ackerman attends a parole hearing.
* Jan. 6, 2020: MDOC states Ackerman is expected to be paroled for 24-months starting March 5.
Rise and fall of Gerald 'Ajax' Ackerman
Port Huron Times Herald
November 8, 2019
'Perverted Pied Piper': Ex-Port Huron mayor convicted of molesting girls could be paroled
Port Huron Times Herald
Port Huron Times Herald
November 8, 2019
https://www.thetimesherald.com/story/news/2019/11/08/former-port-huron-mayor-convicted-molesting-kids-could-paroled/2527810001/
The former Port Huron mayor dubbed a 'perverted Pied Piper' by his sentencing judge may be paroled.
Gerald 'Ajax' Ackerman came before the Michigan Department of Corrections' Parole Board Nov. 4, according to the MDOC. A decision on whether to parole the 63-year-old is expected in four to six weeks.
Former St. Clair County Circuit Judge Peter Deegan sentenced Ackerman in June of 2000 to 18 to 38 years in prison for molesting three young girls in 1998 and 1999. He was sentenced to a year in jail for indecent exposure in an earlier trial that resulted in a hung jury on the sex act charges.
Ackerman denied he molested the children during his sentencing, according to Times Herald reports from the time.
A jury convicted him on charges of having sex and oral sex with 12- and 8-year-old girls, as well as photographing them in sexually explicit positions. Ackerman was also convicted of fondling an 11-year-old girl.
According to the Michigan Offender Tracking Information System, Ackerman's earliest release date is March 5, 2020.
Investigators at the time said the crimes happened at Ackerman's youth center, Clear Choices, which he founded in 1995 and was part of his platform when he served as mayor.
"You truly acted out as a perverted Pied Piper," Deegan said during Ackerman's sentencing in June 2000. "You'll spend at least the next 18 years behind prison walls, and you're no longer a threat to young children."
Ackerman touted himself as a reformed motorcycle bad boy who worked with troubled kids and used the success of his youth center to land him in politics.
He was elected as Port Huron's mayor in 1997 and was seen by many as a symbol of a changing community and the ability to forgive troubled pasts. He resigned from the position after being charged.
Ackerman was not immediately available to be interviewed.
"We were not notified regarding the parole hearing, but would strongly disagree that this child sexual predator should be paroled," Port Huron police Capt. Marcy Kuehn said in an email.
A dark time
"It was a dark time for our community," said St. Clair County Senior Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Mona Armstrong, who tried Ackerman's cases.
She said Ackerman's parole hearing was not public and she has to have faith in the system on what is decided.
"There's no amount of years that will ever make up for what happened, there’s no amount of time after which a victim and a victim's family feels, everything's fixed, everything's fine. There’s just no amount of time," she said. "Is 20 years enough? 25? Would 15 have been enough? I have to have faith in the process."
Armstrong said the crimes were horrific in many ways and impacted the entire community.
"The violation of children is a horrific crime, in and of itself, added to that, was the fact he had quite honestly….he’s exploited an entire community. He passed himself off as something he was not, he used the trust he had fostered with community leaders and the public, the citizens of the community who had embraced him...and led everyone to believe he was trying to help children, and instead was exploiting them in the worst way possible."
Rise and fall of Ajax Ackerman - a timeline
* Summer 1995: Gerald 'Ajax' Ackerman, a recovering alcoholic and small-time trouble-maker in metro Detroit, works to stem youth gang violence in Port Huron. He earns a police award in 1994 for his work with children and opens Clear Choices, a center where he worked with troubled youth and offered a refuge for children, in 1995.
* November 1995: Ackerman, wearing a long beard and hair in a ponytail, runs for City Council and wins the seventh and final seat. But a recount shows a tie, and he loses a lottery to A. Herb Robbins. Ackerman is later appointed to council when James Relken resigns in 1997.
* November 1997: Ackerman is the top vote-getter for council and is elected as mayor. He is part of the city's push to comply with federal orders to eliminate sewer overflows.
* April 1998: After learning the donated Clear Choices building must close, Ackerman searches for a new site. He attempts to secure federal funding through grants administered by the city. He withdraws the request when some residents question the activities of Clear Choices during a public hearing. An 18-year-old woman speaks on Ackerman's behalf, who testified a year later that she started a sexual relationship with him that month. The relationship ends in October, about the time she discovers she is pregnant. A year later, she testifies the child is his.
* February 1999: A mother complains to representatives of DARES, a local support center for sexual abuse victims, that she fears her teenage daughter is having an inappropriate relationship with Ackerman. The complaint is ignored.
* April 1999: Ackerman's third wife files for divorce on April 1, five days before he is arrested on charges of molesting young girls at Clear Choices. The charges are based on a one-day investigation stemming from a complaint by a woman who fears his relationship with her daughter.
* October 1999: Ackerman is found guilty on nine counts of indecent exposure and he immediately is sentenced to one year in jail. But the jury deadlocks on the major sex charges against him, forcing a new trial.
* May 2000: Times Herald photographers Tony Pitts and Mark Rummel are handcuffed and detained for about 20 minutes in Judge Peter Deegan's empty jury room before they were ordered to surrender their film and released after taking photos of jurors outside the courthouse following the second trial where Ackerman is found guilty on all charges.
* June 2000: Deegan sentences Ackerman to 18 to 38 years in prison for molesting three young girls in 1998 and 1999.
* Nov. 4, 2019: Ackerman attends a parole hearing.
* Jan. 6, 2020: MDOC states Ackerman is expected to be paroled for 24-months starting March 5.
