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Muskegon Heights Detective Sgt. Mel Jason Jordan
1992 - Detective Sgt. Mel Jason Jordan was indicted on charges of cocaine delivery and obstruction of justice in a 1990 drug bust. Jordan was acquitted at trial.
July 1998 - Detective Sgt. Mel Jason Jordan was on duty with a 19 year-old decoy (who was a relative of a Muskegon Heights PD officer), in a sting operation. When Jordan took the minor home, he reportedly instead took her to a park where he got her drunk and then sexually assaulted her.
September 1998 - Detective Jordan was charged with CSC of a minor (July 1998 incident)
September 1998 - Detective Jordan resigned from the Muskegon Heights PD after being criminally charged.
September 1998 - After Jordan was released from jail on bond on the rape charges, he fled to Georgia.
February 1999 - Jordan's ex-girlfriend/Muskegon Heights PD Officer Donna Whitsett was granted a protection order against Jordan. During their 2 year relationship, Jordan reportedly physically assaulted her at her home, at the police station while both were on duty.
August 1999 - A jury acquitted Jordan of the sex charges (07211998)
August 1999 - Jordan pleaded guilty to providing alcohol to the minor (07211998) and was sentenced to six months probation
March 2000 - Jordan was arrested on felony drug charges. He was charged with cocaine delivery, marijuana delivery and resisting police. Jordan was released on a $105,000 bond.
March 2000 - Jordan was charged with official corruption for allegedly taking a bribe from a drug dealer and stealing police department cash.
March 2000 - Jordan pleaded guilty to cocaine and marijuana delivery, resisting police, extortion and embezzlement. With the plea bargain, Jordan was facing a prison term of 3-20 years.
May 2000 - Jordan's bond was increased because he threatened to kill Michigan State Police Detective Jack H. Vanderwal who arrested him. Jordan was trying to obtain a handgun and told a friend that if he had a gun he'd use it against Vanerwal. Jordan also tried to manipulate an electronic tether.
October 2000 - Jordan was allowed to withdraw his guilty pleas.
October 2001 - While out on bond pending his trial on the drug charges (March 2000), Jordan was arrested/charged with the rape of a 15 year-old who was visiting at his girlfriend's home. Jordan's bond was revoked.
March 2002 - Jordan pled guilty to possession with intent to deliver cocaine, two counts of marijuana delivery and resisting police, (March 2000 arrest/charges). Under the plea agreement, Jordan could serve 2-20 years in prison.
April 2002 - At trial, Jordan was found guilty of third-degree criminal sexual conduct (October 2001 rape).
April 2002 - Jordan's sentencing. On the drug charges, Jordan was sentenced to 2-24 years in prison. On the CSC conviction, Jordan was sentenced to 7 1/2 to 15 years.
September 2003 - Jordan's appeal of the CSC conviction: Michigan Court Of Appeals affirmed Jordan's conviction.
Former Heights officer arrested for rape of teen
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
October 3, 2001
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
A former Muskegon Heights police detective — already facing drug, embezzlement and extortion charges — was arrested again on Tuesday, this time charged with raping a 15-year-old girl who was visiting a home in his neighborhood.
Mel Jason Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood, was arraigned today before 60th District Judge Fredric A. Grimm Jr. on a charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Jordan, once a sergeant and head of the department’s detective unit, has been free on $105,000 bond since last year and has been wearing an electronic tether while awaiting his 14th Circuit Court trial in March on the earlier charges.
Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said his office received the sexual assault complaint from Muskegon Heights police in September and referred it to the Michigan State Police for investigation because Jordan is a former Muskegon Heights officer.
“This is extremely disturbing,” Tague said. “This man is on a tether on serious felony charges and is allowed to roam free and victimize an underage female.”
Tague called Jordan “clearly a danger to our community and the children in it.” Jordan is being held on $50,000 bond on the new charge.
Tague said his office opposed the tether to begin with, “and hopefully the judge (Chief Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks) will now agree with my office” by revoking bond in the earlier cases because Jordan violated conditions of the bond.
Those conditions included 24-hour-a-day home confinement except meetings with his attorney and court dates, scheduled parenting time, and church. Those dates did not include any Saturday release time, and the alleged offense occurred on a Saturday.
The alleged rape occurred Sept. 8 at a home in the 3200 block of Lemuel Street, Tague said.
Tague said Jordan had been dating the homeowner, but the woman was away from home when the assault took place. Instead, four teen-age girls were at the home babysitting, he said.
Jordan provided the girls with “hard alcohol,” Tague said; he also sprayed them with a garden hose, both inside and outside the residence. “It appears his motive was to attempt to ply them with alcohol and take sexual advantage of them,” Tague said.
At least one of the girls became “significantly intoxicated,” but the actual victim was another girl, a visitor to the home, who was “sexually assaulted in the bathroom,” Tague said.
Jordan refused to talk to investigators, according to Tague, and was jailed Tuesday night.
In the earlier cases, six felony charges are pending against Jordan, all scheduled for a jury trial starting March 5 before Hicks. Jordan is charged with cocaine and marijuana delivery, resisting police, extortion and embezzlement.
Jordan’s court-appointed attorney for those cases, Tonya Krause-Phelan of Grand Rapids, did not return a call from The Chronicle seeking comment.
Those cases stem from a state police-West Michigan Enforcement Team investigation that led to Jordan’s arrest in March 2000. Originally, on the day of his district court arraignment on those charges, Jordan pleaded guilty to all six counts.
However, Hicks last October allowed Jordan to withdraw his guilty pleas and go to trial because Jordan’s attorney at the time of the pleas, Terry Nolan, was the subject of a criminal probe that the judge said pitted the detective’s interests against the attorney’s.
Jordan has been charged with a variety of felonies over the last 10 years but has yet to be convicted of any.
In 1999, a jury acquitted Jordan of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. In that case, a 19-year-old woman said Jordan raped her in 1998 while they were working an undercover sting operation. However, Jordan did plead guilty to providing alcohol to the teen-ager, a misdemeanor. That conduct led to his firing from his $50,000 per year job.
The woman in July 2000 filed a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids against Jordan, his immediate supervisors and the city of Muskegon Heights, seeking at least $2 million in damages.
According to U.S. District Court records, that lawsuit was dismissed Sept. 7 by the agreement of the parties. No further details were immediately available. The woman’s attorney is out of the country and could not be reached for comment this morning.
Prosecutor questions ‘house arrest’ in Jordan case
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
October 4, 2001
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
A former Muskegon Heights police detective — charged Wednesday with a rape he is accused of committing while free on bond on other charges, wearing an electronic tether — has had that bond revoked.
Meanwhile, county Prosecutor Tony Tague said his office will investigate why the county’s Community Corrections program, which monitors people on tethers, apparently didn’t know Mel Jason Jordan wasn’t home at the time the alleged rape occurred Sept. 8. Jordan was supposed to be under “house arrest;” violating that condition should have led to his arrest.
Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood had his $105,000 bond on earlier charges revoked Wednesday by Muskegon 14th Circuit Judge William C. Marietti on an emergency motion from the prosecutor’s office. Until his arrest on the sex charge Tuesday, Jordan had been free pending trial on felony charges of drug-dealing, embezzlement, extortion and resisting arrest.
Jordan faces a jury trial on those older charges starting March 5 before Chief Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks. Hicks was out of town Wednesday at a judicial conference, so Marietti signed the bond revocation.
Also Wednesday, 60th District Judge Fredric A. Grimm Jr. scheduled an Oct. 17 preliminary examination for Jordan on one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Jordan, once a sergeant and head of the Muskegon Heights detective unit, was charged with raping a 15-year-old girl who was visiting a neighbor’s home. The alleged rape occurred at a home in the 3200 block of Lemuel Street, police reported.
In connection with the older cases, Marietti granted Tague’s emergency motion to revoke Jordan’s bond, on the grounds that Jordan violated its conditions by not being at home the evening of Sept. 8.
Jordan was already in the Muskegon County Jail before Marietti revoked his bond, unable to make a new $50,000 bond Grimm set on the sexual assault charge. But prosecutors wanted to ensure Jordan didn’t get out again, Tague said.
“We believe that he should remain locked behind bars,” Tague said. “He obviously is a threat to the community and particularly to underage women.
“My office will be conducting an investigation into why the tether program did not ensure that he was under house arrest,” Tague said.
Hicks in May 2000 increased Jordan’s bond to $105,000 from $87,000 because the ex-cop had allegedly threatened to kill the state police investigator who arrested him. Tague said the prosecutor’s office at that time opposed letting Jordan remain free on tether.
In the new case, the resident of the home where the alleged rape took place told authorities she was Jordan’s girlfriend and that he had threatened her after the incident was reported, according to police reports.
The night the incident occurred, the resident was away and her younger sister and three other teen-age girls were baby-sitting her children. The girls asked for alcohol and Jordan provided them with vodka and orange juice, police reported.
Jordan allegedly entered the bathroom where one of the girls was changing her clothes and wanted to have sex with her, but she said no, according to a Michigan State Police report.
The girl told police Jordan then picked her up, set her on the bathroom counter and began removing her clothing. The police report said Jordan sexually assaulted the girl. Later the same evening, the girl told one of her friends about the attack. The twogirls then told the resident of the home about the incident, and police were contacted.
In 1999, a jury acquitted Jordan of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. In that case, a 19-year-old woman said Jordan raped her in 1998 while they were working an undercover police operation. However, Jordan did plead guilty to providing alcohol to the teen-ager, a misdemeanor. That conduct led to his firing from his $50,000-per-year job.
The woman in that case filed a civil lawsuit in July 2000 in U.S. District Court against Jordan, his immediate supervisors and the city of Muskegon Heights, seeking $14 million in damages.
In a settlement finalized Sept. 7 — just one day before last month’s alleged rape — that lawsuit was dismissed in exchange for a $5,000 payment to the woman on behalf of Jordan, said Kalamazoo attorney Michael Bogren, who represented the city. No payment was made on behalf of the city or the police supervisors named in the lawsuit, Bogren said.
Former cop to stand trial on sex charge
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
October 18, 2001
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A former Muskegon Heights police detective, already fighting drug, embezzlement and extortion charges, now also faces trial on a charge of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl who was visiting a home in his neighborhood.
Muskegon 60th District Judge Andrew Wierengo III on Wednesday bound over Mel Jason Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood for trial in 14th Circuit Court on a felony charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim younger than 16 but at least 13.
Wierengo also continued Jordan’s bond at $50,000 — a moot point, at least for now, because a circuit judge revoked Jordan’s $105,000 bond on the earlier charges Oct. 3 after his arrest on the sex charge. Jordan has been lodged in jail since his latest arrest.
Wierengo’s decision came after a nearly 90-minute preliminary examination, largely devoted to prosecution testimony by the alleged victim.
The 10th-grader testified calmly, though at times in a choked voice, about the events of the evening of Sept. 8 at the house in the 3200 block of Lemuel Street.
The night the alleged assault occurred, the 23-year-old homeowner — who told police she was Jordan’s girlfriend — was away. Her younger sister and three other teen-age girls were baby-sitting the homeowner’s young children, who were reportedly in bed asleep at the time of the alleged crime.
One of those visiting friends was the 15-year-old girl who said Jordan assaulted her. She said she was a frequent visitor at the Lemuel Street house and was a friend of Jordan, who was also a frequent visitor.
The girl said she, Jordan and the other three girls had been playfully spraying each other with a garden hose early in the evening, both inside and outside the house. Everyone’s clothes got wet, she said.
After that, the girl testified, “I had asked Mel ... if he could bring over some alcohol.” Jordan did so, she said, leaving and then returning with vodka and fruit juice. Jordan then left the house for awhile, and the girls drank together, the witness testified, though she said she had less than one glassful and didn’t feel drunk.
Later, after dark and maybe two hours after the water fight, the girl said she went into the home’s bathroom to change out of her wet clothes. The others were outside in the yard when she went in, she said.
While she was in the bathroom, “there was a knock at the door, and Mel came in,” she testified. She said he removed most of her clothes, “put me on the sink, and he was kissing me all over.” He then performed a sex act on her and tried two other times torape her, she said.
“I was shocked,” she said.
Asked if Jordan spoke during the encounter, she said, “He told me it would be quick, not to worry.” Afterwards, “he told me not to tell anyone, and he asked me to come over to his house.” Then they both put their clothes on, and Jordan returned home, she said.
She said she never yelled for help “because I was scared.”
The girl a few minutes later told one of her friends — the sister of the home’s owner — about the encounter, she testified. She told no one else until about two weeks later, when the homeowner called her to ask about the incident, she said. The homeowner and the alleged victim then reported the assault to Muskegon Heights police on the insistence of the homeowner.
The Muskegon County Prosecutor’s office later referred the matter to the Michigan State Police for investigation, which led to Jordan’s Oct. 2 arrest.
The girl testified she didn’t report the incident to police immediately “because I was afraid of him.” She also said she was embarrassed and was afraid of what the homeowner, Jordan’s girlfriend, would think about it.
Detective court case a trail of twists
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
March 6, 2002
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It’s been a long, strange trip through the justice system for a former Muskegon Heights police detective, and it got stranger still today.
Almost exactly two years after his arrest, former Detective Sgt. Mel Jason Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood was finally scheduled to go to trial on charges of extortion, embezzlement, drug-dealing and resisting police. If convicted of the most serious charges, the ex-cop faces up to 20 years in prison.
The extortion and embezzlement charges relate to alleged official corruption committed while Jordan was the department’s ranking detective in 1998. The other charges were from later acts allegedly committed after he was fired following an unrelated 1999guilty plea to furnishing alcohol to a minor.
In an unusual twist in a case that’s been filled with them, the presiding judge Tuesday heard motions on Jordan’s attempts to force Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague, Senior Assistant Prosecutor Victor A. Fitz, an FBI agent and an assistant U.S. attorney to testify as defense witnesses.
Jordan also asked that the Mus-kegon prosecutor’s office be removed from the case due to alleged conflict of interest — in part because Tague and Fitz were on his witness list.
The judge refused all these defense requests.
But right in the middle of jury selection this morning, the state Court of Appeals stepped in to add another twist.
Appeals Court judges delayed the start of the trial until at least Monday. The court granted the defense’s motion to stop the trial and hear an immediate appeal of Hicks’ ruling.
In court yesterday, Jordan’s court-appointed lawyer, Tonya Krause-Phelan of Grand Rapids, argued that a conflict of interest exists because Jordan supposedly had been working with the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office on an “investigation of the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s office” for possible wrongdoing. Jordan also subpoenaed audio tapes he said he gave the U.S. attorney’s office, relating to that alleged investigation.
As for calling Tague and Fitz as defense witnesses — apparently in some connection with Jordan’s “investigation” — Krause-Phelan didn’t make the link with Jordan’s criminal case clear to the judge’s satisfaction.
The basic defense argument: Tague targeted Jordan for prosecution because the ex-cop was helping the feds investigate Tague’s office.
Ridiculous, prosecutors replied.
“It’s a delay tactic,” Senior Assistant Prosecutor Raymond J. Kostrzewa said in court. “It’s a baseless accusation by a criminal defendant that any criminal defendant could make ... (A ruling in Jordan’s favor) would cause other defendants to constantlytry the same thing.”
Contacted later by The Chronicle, Tague also scoffed at Jordan’s claims. “Mel Jordan is a crooked cop who feels the noose tightening around his neck and is showing his desperation to avoid a prison sentence,” Tague said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Salan argued against the motion to subpoena federal witnesses and records, on the basis that state courts have no jurisdiction.
Citing federal policy, neither Salan nor a U.S. attorney’s spokesman, contacted later by telephone, would confirm or deny whether any tapes exist or an investigation is pending or completed.
In another unusual twist, even the judge admitted getting into the investigative act.
Muskegon’s Chief 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks said in court that last year, “I in fact made a private inquiry to the Michigan Attorney General to see if there was something there that I should know about” regarding Jordan’s allegations of corruption by others.
The state’s answer: No.
Last year, the chief of the Attorney General’s Criminal Division, Robert Ianni, also told a Chronicle reporter that his office reviewed police files from the Jordan case and found no basis for prosecuting anyone other than Jordan.
Later Tuesday, the judge ruled against the defense.
In a written opinion, Hicks called Jordan’s conspiracy claims “a murky hypothesis of potential wrongdoing by the prosecutor’s office,” insufficient to support subpoenas for Tague and the others, or to kick Tague’s office off the case.
Hicks also found no conflict between Jordan and the prosecutor’s office because of Jordan’s former position as a police detective, noting Jordan was already off the force at the time of his arrest and subsequent prosecution.
The recent flurry of motions was only the latest in a long series of odd turns in the two-year-old case.
Just eight days after his March 8, 2000, arrest, Jordan — in a highly unusual move — pleaded guilty to all six charges he faced, bypassing usual court procedures in exchange for a commitment that his minimum sentence would be no more than three years inprison.
But a few weeks later he changed his mind, fired his lawyer and sought to withdraw his pleas. After a hearing in October 2000, Hicks agreed because, the judge said, Jordan’s attorney Terry Nolan was the subject of a criminal probe that pitted the detective’s interests against the attorney’s.
After yet another change of lawyers, Hicks in April 2001 had to go to Grand Rapids to appoint Krause-Phelan because, as the judge said in court Tuesday, “nearly everyone in the Muskegon County Bar Association has asserted conflicts” barring them from representing Jordan. But, on the very eve of trial last July, a health problem arose with Krause-Phelan that led to the trial being postponed another seven months.
There matters stood until last October, when Jordan — free on bond — was arrested on a charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a 15-year-old girl. His bond was revoked, and he has been in jail since.
The six charges Jordan faces in the current trial are: extortion, a 20-year felony; embezzlement of more than $100, a 10-year felony; two counts of delivery of marijuana, each a four-year felony; possession with intent to deliver less than 50 grams of cocaine, a 20-year felony; and resisting police, a high-court misdemeanor with a potential two-year penalty.
The extortion and embezzlement charges are for allegedly taking a bribe from a drug dealer and stealing police department cash while Jordan was a detective and command officer.
The drug charges stemmed from an undercover investigation after Jordan was no longer an active officer.
The resisting charge was from Jordan’s alleged attempt to struggle and run when narcotics officers showed up at his then-workplace, a used-car dealer, to arrest him in March 2000.
Earlier in the 1990s, Jordan was twice prosecuted unsuccessfully for alleged crimes committed while on duty.
Court hears appeal in ex-cop’s trial
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
March 7, 2002
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
The wheels of justice continue to turn slowly for Mel Jason Jordan, a former Muskegon Heights Police detective and commander charged with extortion, embezzlement, drug delivery and resisting police.
Just before noon Wednesday, with jury selection already under way, an unusual emergency order from the Michigan Court of Appeals abruptly halted the much-delayed trial until at least next week.
The court granted defense motions to stop the trial while appeals judges immediately consider Jordan’s application to appeal a ruling the trial judge made the previous afternoon.
Muskegon Chief 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks on Tuesday rejected defense attempts to remove the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s office from the case and to call, as defense witnesses, Prosecutor Tony Tague, Senior Assistant Prosecutor Victor A. Fitz, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rene Shekmer and FBI Special Agent William Blynn.
Jordan also asked for audio tapes he says he made for Blynn of conversations between Jordan and other people.
Jordan says he made the tapes under the FBI agent’s direction as part of a “federal investigation” of Tague’s office.
Jordan’s attorney, Tonya Krause-Phelan, stated in a court filing this week that people on the tapes “discuss, in part, that Mr. Jordan was ‘framed’ by certain Muskegon County officials.”
Krause-Phelan argued that the witnesses she is seeking, including Tague himself, can at least corroborate some portions of testimony from other defense witnesses, while the alleged tapes may at least be used to discredit witnesses if they testify contrary to what they said on the tapes.
The defense seeks to remove Tague’s office from the case because of alleged conflicts of interest, arising mostly from the claimed Jordan/FBI investigation of the prosecutor.
Spokesmen for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Grand Rapids, citing federal policy, have refused to confirm or deny whether any investigation is under way or completed, or whether they have any of Jordan’s tapes.
Prosecutors have called the defense claims of a frame-up “a baseless accusation” and the late flurry of motions a “delaying tactic.”
Krause-Phelan and her co-counsel, Helen Nieuwenhuis, swiftly filed an emergency appeal of Hicks’ ruling, arguing that it violated Jordan’s right to a fair trial.
The lawyers asked the appeals court either to reverse the ruling or to delay the trial until “the federal government can disclose the contents of its investigation.”
In its order, the appeals judges stayed further proceedings until 9 a.m. Monday “or further order of this court” while they consider Jordan’s appeal.
After the 11th-hour order came over the fax and was handed to Hicks, the judge dismissed the courtroom full of potential jurors just minutes after he had started questioning the first group of 13. If the trial resumes next week, it will be with a new pool of jurors.
Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges.
The extortion and embezzlement charges relate to alleged official corruption while Jordan was a Muskegon Heights detective sergeant in 1997-98.
The other charges were from later acts allegedly committed after he was fired following an unrelated 1999 guilty plea to furnishing alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor.
Former cop’s appeal fails; trial to go on
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
March 8, 2002
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
Off again, on again, off again...On again.
At least as of this morning.
The trial of a former Muskegon Heights Police detective sergeant has been slated to restart next Tuesday after the Michigan Court of Appeals lifted an unusual “stay of proceedings” it imposed Wednesday, temporarily halting the trial after jury selection had already started.
Thursday afternoon, the appeals court said: Go ahead.
Ex-cop Mel Jason Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood is charged with extortion, embezzlement, drug delivery and resisting police.
Jordan’s attorneys had asked the appeals court to consider immediately their appeal of a ruling the trial judge had made earlier this week. The defense argued Jordan’s right to a fair trial might be violated if the trial proceeded.
The appeals judges agreed to stop the trial while they decided whether the issues raised by the defense were urgent enough to require immediate appellate review.
The decision Thursday: No.
On the eve of trial, Muskegon’s Chief 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks had denied Jordan’s motion to disqualify the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s office from trying the case due to alleged conflicts of interest.
The judge also quashed subpoenas to call, as defense witnesses, Prosecutor Tony Tague, Senior Assistant Prosecutor Victor A. Fitz, an FBI agent and an assistant U.S. attorney.
Finally, Hicks quashed Jordan’s subpoena for the U.S. Attorney’s Grand Rapids office to produce audio tapes Jordan says he provided of conversations between himself and other people.
Tague today was pleased with the appeals court decision. “We felt confident that the appellate court would agree with Judge Hicks’ decision.
“Jordan is willing to use any tactics to attempt to delay this trial and not have my office try the case,” he said. “As a former detective, he knows that my office has some of the top trial lawyers in the state and he’s well aware of our conviction rate.“We are ready to proceed to trial and are pleased that the courts are putting an end to Jordan’s delay tactics.”
Jordan says he made the tapes under the direction of FBI Special Agent William Blynn as part of a federal investigation of Tague’s office. His lawyers contend the tapes may show Jordan is the victim of a “frame” by Tague’s office.
Spokesmen for the U.S. Attorney’s office, citing federal policy, have refused to confirm or deny whether they have any of Jordan’s tapes and whether an investigation of Tague is under way or completed.
Prosecutors have called the defense claims of a frame-up a “baseless accusation” and a delay tactic.
Jordan faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges. The extortion and embezzlement charges related to alleged corruption while Jordan was a detective and command officer in 1997-98.
The other charges were from later acts allegedly committed after he was fired following a 1999 guilty plea to furnishing alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor.
Rogue detective cops a plea
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
March 12, 2002
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
Former Muskegon Heights police detective Mel Jason Jordan has pleaded guilty to delivering drugs and resisting police.
In exchange, the Muskegon County prosecutor’s office dropped extortion and embezzlement charges.
The eve-of-trial plea agreement late Monday will keep the fired ex-cop and command officer behind bars for at least two years, with a potential maximum sentence of 24 years.
The deal does not affect an unrelated sex-crime case pending against Jordan. He faces trial March 26 on a charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a 15-year-old girl.
Jordan pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver cocaine, a 20-year felony; two counts of marijuana delivery, each a four-year felony; and resisting police, a high-court misdemeanor with a top sentence of two years. The sentence for cocaine delivery will be served first, and then the others will be served together.
The charges to which Jordan pleaded guilty all involve conduct in early 2000. That was months after the Muskegon Heights Police Department fired the former detective sergeant following his unrelated 1999 guilty plea to furnishing alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor.
The now-dismissed extortion and embezzlement counts were the only “police corruption” elements of the case. They related to alleged conduct in 1997-98, while Jordan was the police department’s ranking detective.
Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood is expected to get a batch of prison terms that add up to a sentence of between two and 24 years. With credit for the time he’s already spent in jail since his bond was revoked last October, Jordan could be eligible for parole in October 2003 unless convicted on the sex charge.
Fourteenth Circuit Chief Judge Timothy G. Hicks made that sentencing commitment after approving Jordan’s plea deal shortly before 6 p.m. The judge set sentencing for April 15.
Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said the plea agreement achieved what his office wanted: prison time for Jordan. Tague said conviction on all six charges would not have meant a longer sentence.
“Our focus was to insure a conviction of the top count (cocaine delivery) and make sure he received a prison sentence,” Tague said. “We lost nothing by the dismissal of two counts.”
Like the cocaine count to which Jordan pleaded, the extortion charge carried a potential maximum sentence of 20 years. Embezzlement of more than $100, the other dismissed charge, is a 10-year felony.
However, Hicks’s two-year minimum sentence cap is a year less than Jordan was slated to get as a consequence of his original, later-withdrawn guilty pleas to all six charges, just days after his March 2000 arrest.
In that earlier, prosecutor-approved sentencing commitment, Jordan faced a minimum term of three years. Hicks later voided the deal by allowing Jordan to withdraw his pleas after the judge decided Jordan and his then-attorney had a conflict of interest.This time, the prosecutor’s office left the sentencing decision to Hicks.
“We asked for substantial prison time, no less than what Jordan originally had faced, but Judge Hicks’s hands are tied by ridiculously low (state sentence) guidelines, which called for local jail time,” Tague said.
“Fortunately, Judge Hicks exceeded those guidelines because he felt a prison sentence was appropriate.”
In addition, “My office will be proceeding on the rape charge, and ultimately I believe Jordan will receive a lengthy prison sentence,” Tague said. “This man is a dirty cop who broke his trust with the citizens of Muskegon Heights.”
State sentencing guidelines are expected to recommend a minimum term of between four and seven years if Jordan is convicted on the sex charge, Tague said.
These were the sentence commitments Hicks made Monday:
- Possession with intent to deliver less than 50 grams of cocaine. Hicks committed to a prison sentence of one to 20 years, which must be served consecutively to any other term.
- Two counts of marijuana delivery. The judge committed to simultaneous sentences of one to four years on each.
- One count of resisting police. Hicks committed to a term of one to two years, to run concurrently with the marijuana sentences.
The Chronicle was unable after the pleas to reach Jordan’s attorneys for comment. He is represented by two court-appointed Grand Rapids lawyers, Tonya Krause-Phelan and Helen Nieuwenhuis.
Ex-cop back on trial — this time on sex charge
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
March 28, 2002
https://infoweb.newsbank.com/
Former police detective Mel Jason Jordan, already a convicted drug felon facing at least two years behind bars, went on trial this week on a sex charge that could stack many years onto that sentence if he’s convicted.
Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood is on trial in Muskegon’s 14th Circuit Court on one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a girl who was 15 at the time of the alleged offense last Sept. 8.
It’s illegal in Michigan for an adult to have sexual contact with a person younger than 16.
Jordan, fired in 1999 as a Muskegon Heights detective sergeant, is accused of sexually assaulting the girl while she was visiting a home in the 3200 block of Lemuel Street in his neighborhood. The alleged incident occurred in the home’s bathroom during aparty involving Jordan and a number of teens, while the 23-year-old homeowner —who was then Jordan’s girlfriend — was away at work.
The homeowner’s 15-year-old sister and three other teen-age girls were baby-sitting the homeowner’s young children, who were reportedly in bed asleep at the time of the alleged crime. One of those visiting friends was the girl who said Jordan assaulted her.
On the witness stand Wednesday the girl, now 16, told jurors Jordan came uninvited into the bathroom while she was changing her clothes.
The girl said she, Jordan and the other three girls had been playfully spraying each other with a garden hose earlier in the late-summer evening, getting everyone’s clothes wet. Later, she said, at her request Jordan brought over some vodka and fruit juice, which the girls drank for awhile.
She said Jordan also brought over dry T-shirts for her and others to wear while their wet clothes dried in a basement dryer.
It was while she was changing back into her own clothes that Jordan pushed into the bathroom with her, she testified. The girl said Jordan removed most of her clothes and set her on the sink facing him. She said he performed a sex act on her and tried two other times to have intercourse with her, but she was “too tense” for him to succeed.
She said she didn’t want to have sex but was “scared — shocked” and didn’t yell for help or try to fight back.
The girl said she told her friend — the homeowner’s sister — about it a few minutes later. The friend later testified the same.
However, both girls said they told no one else, for fear of upsetting the homeowner, Jordan’s girlfriend. The story surfaced only on Sept. 22, when — according to both girls — the homeowner overheard her sister talking to Jordan about it, questioned her and the alleged victim later, then angrily confronted Jordan the next day, ultimately calling Muskegon Heights police.
In opening statements earlier Wednesday, attorneys for the prosecution and defense painted contrasting pictures of the events of Sept. 8 and the following weeks.
Senior Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Raymond J. Kostrzewa laid out the basics of the prosecution case. “We’ll ask that you look at all the evidence,” he said to jurors.
Court-appointed defense attorney Alvin E. Swanson asked jurors to look hard and skeptically at “people — time — stories. ... I want you to think, ‘What evidence?’ ”
The alleged conduct happened while Jordan was free on bond awaiting trial on drug and other charges. For that reason, if he’s convicted on the sex charge — a 15-year felony — any sentence could be consecutive to the expected two-to-24-year term he already faces.
Earlier this month, Jordan pleaded guilty to delivering drugs and resisting police, in exchange for the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s office dropping extortion and embezzlement charges. He is to be sentenced next month.
Jordan was fired from the police force after he pleaded to furnishing alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor. Also in 1999, he was acquitted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Witness says she told the truth about ex-cop’s sexual assault
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
March 29, 2002
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She stuck to the basics: “I felt my responsibility was to tell the police.”
A sometimes difficult prosecution witness in the sex-crime trial of ex-cop Mel Jason Jordan — the woman who first called police, two weeks after Jordan allegedly assaulted a 15-year-old girl in the woman’s home — never wavered from that basic testimony in a long afternoon on the witness stand.
Jordan, fired in 1999 as a Muskegon Heights Police detective sergeant, is on trial in Muskegon County’s 14th Circuit Court on one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, a 15-year felony. It’s illegal in Michigan for an adult to have sexual contact with a person younger than 16.
Testifying Thursday was the owner of the Lemuel Street home in which the incident allegedly happened the evening of last Sept. 8.
The woman, then 23, was a neighbor and the girlfriend of Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood in Muskegon Heights. According to prosecution testimony, she was away at work when Jordan attended a party at her house with the homeowner’s 15-year-old sister and three other teen-age girls — including the girl who says Jordan attacked her in the home’s bathroom.
The homeowner testified she called police Sept. 23 after learning about the assault from her younger sister, the victim’s best friend. The two teens had kept it secret for two weeks, largely for fear of upsetting the homeowner, who reportedly found out after overhearing her sister speak angrily to Jordan.
The homeowner testified that Jordan, after she confronted him, repeatedly tried to prevent her from calling police, physically taking the phone from her hand several times and pushing her once.
But the heart of Jordan’s defense is an attempt to persuade jurors that the homeowner herself concocted the sex story, and put the girls up to telling it, because she was angry at Jordan over another matter.
That defense stems from the homeowner’s actions last fall. She repeatedly recanted her original story to police and tried unsuccessfully to persuade the younger girls to do the same.
The woman now says that recantation was a lie — a result of Jordan’s manipulation and threats to ruin her reputation and endanger her custody of her three young children.
In sometimes confusing testimony Thursday, the woman at times couldn’t remember which version she told police when. According to reports by Muskegon Heights police and the Michigan State Police, who took over the investigation Sept. 24, her stories changed several times last fall.
But on the stand, she never wavered on the core point: the original report to police was honest; the recantation was a lie.
The alleged assault happened while Jordan was free on bond awaiting trial on drug and other charges. For that reason, if he’s convicted on the sex charge, any sentence could be consecutive to an expected two- to 24-year term he already faces for drug delivery and resisting police, to which he pleaded guilty earlier this month.
Jordan was fired from the police after he pleaded to furnishing alcohol to a minor, a misdemeanor. Also in 1999, he was acquitted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
The woman who accused him in that earlier incident has been attending the current trial, listening to much of the testimony from the audience.
Ex-cop takes stand, denies sexual assault
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
April 2, 2002
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Disregarding his attorney’s advice, former police detective Mel Jason Jordan took the stand in his own defense Monday.
Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood in Muskegon Heights, is on trial in Muskegon’s 14th Circuit Court on a charge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, a 15-year felony. Jordan is accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl last Sept. 8 in the bathroom of a neighbor’s house while a Saturday-night teen party was going on at the home in the 3200 block of Lemuel Street.
It’s illegal in Michigan for an adult to have sexual contact with a person younger than 16.
In roughly two hours on the witness stand, including about a half-hour of cross-examination, Jordan calmly and consistently denied the accusation and gave his version of the evening in question.
Jordan’s account coincided at many points with testimony by the alleged victim and other teens who were at the home that night. But it diverged sharply from the girl’s account of what happened in the bathroom.
As the ex-Muskegon Heights detective sergeant told it, he was not a sexual aggressor but a consistently helpful, mature neighbor — with the playful exception of joining in a hose-spraying water fight with three teen-age girls, which the alleged victim started by squirting him while he was washing his mother’s car.
At one point, while he was spraying the girls with the hose inside the neighbor’s house, Jordan said, the alleged victim ran into the bathroom, slipped in standing water and fell. “It was quite loud,” he said. “She was obviously hurt.
“I picked her up and asked her if she was OK,” Jordan said. “I said, ‘Look, I’m sorry. We’re done, we’re done’ (with the water fight).” He said the other girls were watching.
Later, under cross-examination, Jordan said he also may have hugged and kissed the girl on her forehead and cheek after picking her up.
He said he never was alone with her in the bathroom, never placed her on the sink, never removed most of her clothing and never tried to have sex with her — all of which the girl earlier testified happened, long after the water fight ended while she was changing her clothes in the bathroom.
Jordan also denied ever threatening the 23-year-old owner of the home in which the alleged assault happened after the woman called police two weeks later to report the incident. The woman — then Jordan’s girlfriend — repeatedly changed her story last fall, several times telling police investigators she herself concocted the sex accusation because she was angry at Jordan, then put the 15-year-old girl up to accusing him.
Last week, the homeowner testified that her recantation was a lie, the result of manipulation and threats from Jordan to damage her reputation and endanger her custody of her three small children.
Jordan’s testimony was against the advice of his court-appointed attorney, Alvin E. Swanson.
Under cross-examination by Senior Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Raymond J. Kostrzewa, Jordan stood firmly by his version.
But the prosecutor may have scored a point or two. Under Kostrzewa’s questioning, Jordan acknowledged he had never had a fight or argument with the 15-year-old alleged victim before police were called Sept. 23, leaving open the question of why the girl would have accused Jordan and stuck with that accusation ever since.
Jordan was the last defense witness, and the case was expected to go to the jury today after closing arguments.
The alleged conduct happened while Jordan was free on bond awaiting trial on drug and other charges. For that reason, if he’s convicted, any sentence could be consecutive to the expected two-to-24-year term he already faces after pleading guilty last month to delivering drugs and resisting police.
Ex-cop’s new conviction adds prison time
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
April 3, 2002
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Former police detective Mel Jason Jordan’s decision to overrule his lawyer and testify in his own defense — combined with an aggressive prosecution — may have been his downfall.
Twelve Muskegon County jurors late Tuesday found Jordan guilty as charged of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, a 15-year felony. After about 4 1/2 hours of deliberation, the 14th Circuit Court jury decided Jordan, 36, of 536 W. Oakwood sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl last Sept. 8 in the bathroom of a neighbor’s home during a Saturday-evening teen party.
After the verdict, several jurors said Jordan’s two hours of testimony Monday afternoon, in which he denied the bathroom assault happened, was unbelievable and helped convict him.
“Had he not taken the stand, we might have found in his favor,” one juror said.
Other jurors said they were convinced by the overall, piece-by-piece assembling of a complicated, difficult case by Senior Assistant Muskegon County Prosecutor Raymond J. Kostrzewa. “After I saw the puzzle being put together, I decided he was guilty,” another juror said.
The sex conviction is a big win for the Muskegon County prosecutor’s office, which has been tangling for years with the former Muskegon Heights detective sergeant.
The conviction means Jordan faces much longer prison time than he had coming as a result of his guilty pleas last month to cocaine and marijuana delivery and resisting police.
In those cases, relating to conduct in early 2000 after Jordan was no longer a police officer, Chief 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks committed to a cap of two years on Jordan’s combined minimum sentence. The maximum term is 24 years.
With credit for six months he has already spent in jail, Jordan could be eligible for parole in 18 months.
But with the sex conviction, prosecutors say state sentencing guidelines call for a minimum sentence of between four and seven years.
And because the crime occurred while Jordan was free on bond awaiting trial on the earlier charges, the judge has the option of ordering Jordan to serve the sex sentence consecutive to the others.
Hicks set sentencing for April 15 in all the cases.
The victim’s mother, tears in her eyes, expressed relief after the jury convicted Jordan.
“I’m glad about the verdict,” she said. “That’s what we wanted. ... This will definitely help (the family to recover).”
Prosecutors were grimly pleased as well.
“Jordan’s career of dishonesty and manipulation has been brought to an end,” Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said. “What Mel Jordan did is a disgrace to all law enforcement, and especially for the people of the city of Muskegon Heights to whom he was given a duty to serve,” trial prosecutor Kostrzewa said after the verdict.
The lead Michigan State Police investigator in the case, Detective Sgt. Gary Miles, called the verdict “extremely fair. They reached the right verdict, and the case was prosecuted excellently.”
Court-appointed defense attorney Alvin E. Swanson expressed disappointment. “It’s an unfortunate verdict,” Swanson said.
Jordan, formerly Muskegon Heights’ second-ranking officer, has not worked as a cop since 1998, when he was suspended after being arrested on an earlier sex charge on which a jury later acquitted him. Jordan did plead guilty to furnishing alcohol to a minor in the 1998 case.
Convicted cop faces a decade in prison
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
April 16, 2002
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Former police detective Mel Jason Jordan was ordered to prison for at least 9 1/2 years Monday, still insisting he was innocent of a sex crime and claiming he committed drug offenses as part of a never-substantiated “federal investigation.”
Muskegon’s Chief 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks didn’t buy either of Jordan’s accounts.
After hearing out the ex-Muskegon Heights detective sergeant at considerable length in two separate sentencings, Hicks imposed a combined minimum term near the middle of state guidelines. The shortest possible “minimum” under the guidelines would have been about seven years; the longest, 12 years.
With credit for seven months already served in jail, the 36-year-old Jordan may be eligible for parole within nine years. The longest he can serve is 39 years.
Noting Jordan’s former position as a detective and command officer, a post he last held in 1998, the judge told him: “(Your conduct) is a stain on the honor of all of us (in the criminal justice system) and makes the work of every police officer more difficult.”
However, Hicks also acknowledged Jordan’s record of successful police work for many years, and his earlier record as an Army veteran, as factors that helped persuade the judge not to impose the longest possible minimum sentence.
Jordan, of 536 W. Oakwood, got these sentences:
- On a series of drug-delivery and resisting-police convictions, the judge stuck to his earlier sentencing commitment and imposed a combined term of two to 24 years in prison. Jordan pleaded guilty last month to the drug felonies and the resisting-police misdemeanor, all committed in early 2000.
Broken down, those sentences were one to 20 years for possession with intent to deliver cocaine, to be served first; then, simultaneous terms of one to four years each for two counts of marijuana delivery, and of six months to two years for resisting police.
- For third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a 15-year-old girl — in September 2001 while Jordan was free on bond awaiting trial on the earlier charges — the judge opted to make the sentence consecutive (added onto the end) to the others, as allowed by state law.
Hicks ordered Jordan to prison for an additional 7 1/2 to 15 years on the sex crime.
A jury last month convicted Jordan of criminal sexual conduct, concluding he assaulted the girl in the bathroom of a neighbor’s home during a Saturday evening teen party. It’s illegal in Michigan for an adult to have sexual contact with a person younger than 16.
The victim in that crime said she was satisfied with the sentence, though she would have liked it to be even tougher. The girl, now 16, said she learned a lesson from the experience: “Just don’t trust everyone you know.”
Also pleased with the combined sentence was Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague, chief target of Jordan’s conspiracy allegations.
“It’s unfortunate that he was unwilling to accept responsibility for his illegal and corrupt actions all the way to sentence,” Tague said. “Fortunately he will now have nearly 10 years in prison to consider the damage he did to law enforcement and to the community of Muskegon Heights.”
Tague called the outcome “a credit to numerous West Michigan law-enforcement agencies that focused their efforts on ensuring the conviction of an ex-police officer who stepped over the line.”
Before sentencing, Jordan attributed his drug violations to his alleged cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI “in trying to ferret out corruption in Muskegon County,” including the prosecutor’s office.
Citing longstanding department policy, the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Western District of Michigan has refused to confirm or deny the existence of any such probe. The office last month successfully moved to quash Jordan’s bid to subpoena federal records, tapes and testimony for his then-expected trial.
Monday, Jordan said he subsequently pleaded guilty to the drug charges “for the sake of falling on my sword and not breaking the integrity of that investigation.”
However, Jordan also said of the drug crimes: “I would like to extend my deepest apologies to my family ... and the community of Muskegon Heights. ... I involved myself in some things that I’m not necessarily proud of.”
The judge was unimpressed by the “federal investigation” claim. “I’ve waited, and I’ve listened ... for any indication from the U.S. Attorney to validate (the claim),” Hicks said. “None was forthcoming.”
Prosecutors and police investigators say Jordan sold drugs for money. They don’t dispute his contention he didn’t use drugs himself.
As for the sex charge, Jordan said he was innocent and blamed his conviction on false testimony by others and on alleged suppression of facts he claimed were not allowed to be presented at trial. His attorney in that case, Alvin E. Swanson, said Jordan intends to appeal.
Despite officers’ arrests, leaders support chief John S. Hausman
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
January 18, 2003
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Key Muskegon Heights city officials firmly support Police Chief George Smith, despite what the mayor calls a “disturbing” number of felony charges against city police officers.
Three, including two command officers, have been charged with felonies in the last 30 days.
And Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague says he is working with the chief to correct “problems within the department,” while urging city officials to take a hard look at the situation.
Smith and other command officers could not be reached for comment Friday.
Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman, 41, became the most recent officer to be arraigned when he was charged Thursday with criminal sexual conduct and writing non-sufficient funds checks.
On Dec. 31, Sgt. George Hubbard, 52, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for ramming a woman friend’s car.
On Dec. 17, road patrol officer Neil Siebert, 26, was charged with felony assault in connection with a “road rage” incident.
And several other Muskegon Heights officers and one former command officer have been investigated or prosecuted in a variety of incidents in recent years.
It would take a vote by the city council to have Smith fired, city officials said. But that’s not likely anytime soon, because city leaders are not blaming Smith.
“These are not work-related incidents,” said City Manager Melvin C. Burns II. “These are aberrations. The city’s other employees do their jobs without incident.”
“I don’t think it’s the chief’s fault that those people don’t know how to act when they’re off duty,” said Mayor Pro Tem Willie Burrel.
Burrel said that even though police officers are technically always on duty, the chief cannot be held responsible for the actions of officers not directly under his command.
However, Burns said, “nobody is saying the police department or the city council supports these officers’ actions.”
Mayor Rillastine Wilkins stressed that none of the three officers in the latest incidents has been convicted. But she called the number of allegations “disturbing.”
“They not only reflect badly on the chief, it reflects badly on the city,” Wilkins said.
Wilkins says she expects the chief to give the city council a full report on the recent incidents.
All three officers have been suspended without pay and those suspensions are forcing more overtime duty on the city’s already short-handed force.
City leaders have been struggling with a $1 million budget deficit.
“These suspensions will all put the city in a precarious position,” said Burrel. “We’ll have to have overtime for other folks while these officers are off. It’s not a good situation for us at all.”
Burrel said the city needs to adopt a code of ethics for all its employees.
Tague urged city officials to examine and improve conditions in the police department and repeated that he is working with Smith to make sure the situation improves.
“I can assure the citizens of Muskegon Heights that something is going to be done,” Tague said. “Whatever the problem is, it’s going to get solved, because we as a community can no longer tolerate this type of conduct in a police department.
“I’ve spoken to the chief about problems within the department and have received a commitment that we’ll be working together to ensure that penalties are paid for misconduct and that policies are put in place to prevent any future occurrences,” the prosecutor said.
“At this point I think the city has to take a hard look as to why these incidents occurred, and how they can address issues which led up to persons employed as police officers committing criminal acts,” Tague said.
“Certainly all law enforcement in the county is concerned when there are repeated arrests in a law-enforcement agency,” Tague said. “I’m extremely concerned with these cases because unfortunately it tarnishes the reputation of all the honest, hard-working police officers in our county.”
FAXBOX:
- Sgt. Phillip E. Coleman — charged Thursday with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and writing three nonsufficient funds checks within 10 days.
- Sgt. George Hubbard — charged Dec. 31 with assault with a dangerous weapon and malicious destruction of personal property. Accused of chasing and ramming a woman friend’s vehicle.
- Officer Neil Siebert — charged Dec. 17 with assault with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery and reckless driving in an alleged “road rage” incident. Charged last week in Kent County with assault and reckless driving in another alleged road rage incident.
- Officer Roger Kitchen — suspended and demoted from sergeant last year after he was stabbed during a domestic dispute while on duty. Charges were not filed because neither party wanted to prosecute.
- Officer David Anderson — found innocent by a jury in January 2002 of a job-related assault and battery. The misdemeanor accusation stemmed from a November 2000 incident in which Anderson was accused of punching a handcuffed, seated suspect in the face without provocation.
- Former Detective Mel Jason Jordan — the department’s former second-ranking officer was suspended in 1998 after being arrested on a sex charge, stemming from an alleged on-the-job incident with a female police trainee. A jury later acquitted him. Jordan did plead guilty in 1999 to furnishing alcohol to a minor in the same incident and never worked as a police officer again.
Earlier in the 1990s, Jordan was twice prosecuted unsuccessfully for alleged crimes committed while on duty. Extortion and embezzlement charges relating to alleged police corruption in 1997 and 1998 were dismissed last March in exchange for Jordan’s guilty plea to a variety of drug-delivery and fleeing-police offenses committed in early 2000, after he left the force. A jury last March also convicted Jordan of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for a September 2001 incident with a 15-year-old girl. Jordan is now serving a prison sentence of 9 1/2 to 39 years for the drug and sex convictions.
Former Officer Mel Jason Jordan - Conviction Affirmed
Michigan Court Of Appeals
September 11, 2003
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Police command officer faces sex charge
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
September 2, 1998
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A veteran Muskegon Heights command police officer was to be charged with a sex crime today, according to the Muskegon County prosecutor.
Prosecutor Tony Tague said Detective Sgt. Mel Jason Jordan, 33, was to surrender to authorities at 2 p.m. today on a criminal sexual conduct arrest warrant.
According to Tague, Jordan allegedly sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman, who was assisting the police department in a sting operation to curb underage drinking and prostitution.
Jordan late this morning called the charges “a crock” and said he would fight what he called an “unfair” prosecution. He said he was told the charge would be third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
“I will stand before any court or judge in this nation and proclaim my innocence,” Jordan said. “I know what I did and what I didn’t do. I will not stand for this.”
Because Jordan has worked as a law enforcement officer within Muskegon County, Tague had a potential conflict of interest. As a result, his office referred the case to the Michigan State Police for investigation and the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office for prosecution, Tague said.
Under Michigan law, sexual crimes are defined by degrees. First- and third-degrees address sexual penetration, while second- and fourth-degrees apply to sexual contact.
First-degree criminal sexual conduct is punishable by up to life imprisonment while second- and third-degree carry maximum 15-year penalties.
Fourth-degree is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum two-year prison term.
The alleged victim is described as a relative of another Muskegon Heights police officer, Tague said.
“Jordan cancelled the (sting operation), purchased alcohol and brought her to a park in Norton Shores where he allegedly sexually assaulted her,” Tague said.
According to Tague, Jordan drove the unmarked police car to Norton Shores’ Ross Park. There he grabbed the woman’s breast, sexually penetrated her with his finger then forced her to touch his penis.
“She resisted and tried to get away,” Tague said. “It was a secluded area with no houses within 1 1/2 miles of the place.”
This is not Jordan’s first time on the other side of the law.
Jordan was indicted by a state-appointed, one-man grand jury in 1992 on charges of cocaine delivery and obstruction of justice.
The indictment said that during a 1990 drug bust at an East Park Manor apartment, Jordan gave crack cocaine to drug dealers, then allowed them to leave, and kept confiscated cash for his own use.
But jurors found the charges to be unsubstantiated and acquitted Jordan and another officer.
Lawyer: Officer framed with rape charge
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
September 29, 1998
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The lawyer for a Muskegon Heights police sergeant charged with rape said some officers under his command “conspired” to frame him for the crime.
Terry Nolan, attorney for Detective Sgt. Mel Jason Jordan, told a 60th District Court judge Monday that a “conspiracy (existed) among certain Muskegon Heights police officers.”
Jordan, 33, faces up to 15 years’ imprisonment if convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The charge stems from a July 21 incident involving the relative of another officer.
Authorities said Jordan sexually assaulted the 19-year-old woman, who was assisting police in a sting operation to curb underage drinking and prostitution.
Jordan, who has since been suspended from the police force without pay, denies the charge. He will face preliminary examination Oct. 7 in Muskegon’s 60th District Court. Jordan remains free on a $25,000 cash bond.
Officials said Jordan bought alcohol and drove the woman to a Norton Shores park. There, he allegedly sexually assaulted her, authorities said.
Outside court, Nolan said Jordan is a command officer who often has to discipline several officers under him. Some of those officers, Nolan said, took revenge by framing him with the rape charge.
“We believe some of these (officers) are partially responsible for these charges,” Nolan said. “There’s certainly enough to create a reasonable doubt when jurors hear how this occurred. There are a lot of inconsistencies that don’t add up.”
Nolan was in court to obtain certain tape-recorded conversations held by the Michigan State Police. Prosecutors turned over the evidence to Nolan as requested, but the content of the tapes was not revealed.
Jordan outside court blamed fellow officers for trying to oust him from his $47,000-per-year job.
“The conspiracy is there,” Jordan said. “The list (of alleged conspirators) is long and distinguished.”
The Kent County Prosecutor’s Office will handle the prosecution. Michigan State Police investigated the matter.
Fired officer ordered to keep his distance
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
February 26, 1999
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A fired Muskegon Heights detective, facing trial on a rape charge, was ordered Thursday to stay away from a female fellow officer who filed a personal protection order against him.
Muskegon Circuit Judge William C. Marietti upheld a personal protection order against Mel Jason Jordan, 33, to keep him away from Donna Whitsett, a patrol officer for Muskegon Heights police.
In documents filed with the 14th Circuit Court, Whitsett said she and Jordan were involved in a relationship for the past two years, even though Jordan was her supervisor at the Muskegon Heights Police Department.
During those years, Whitsett said, Jordan “has repeatedly assaulted me physically.” Whitsett further alleged that Jordan asked her for money, then struck her with a telephone when she refused.
The alleged attacks occurred both at her home and at the police station while both were on duty, the woman said.
Jordan, acting as his own attorney, disputed Whitsett’s version of events. Under Jordan’s questioning, the woman admitted she gave him her pager number just three weeks ago because she was worried about him.
“It’s unfair and unfortunate she filed a ‘PPO,’ ” Jordan said. “I respect the court’s decision and I will honor that decision, but there are other factors and circumstances that arose that warranted the seeking and issuance of the PPO. I will be in full compliance with it.”
But Jordan also claims Whitsett’s allegations are part and parcel of authorities’ plan to discredit him and convict him of something at any cost. However, Jordan declined to discuss such allegations.
The personal protection order is the least of Jordan’s problems. He faces up to 15 years’ imprisonment if convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
The felony sex charge stems from a July 21 incident involving the relative of another officer. Trial is set for June 8 in Muskegon’s 14th Circuit Court. Jordan said he was fired from his $47,000-per-year job soon after Muskegon Heights officials announced his suspension without pay.
Authorities said Jordan sexually assaulted the 19-year-old woman, who was assisting the police in a sting operation to curb underage drinking and prostitution.
Jordan has denied the charge. He remains free on a $25,000 cash bond.
Jordan has said the allegation is a revenge tactic concocted by several officers upset with discipline he handed out as their supervisor.
Detective in court on sex charges
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
August 4, 1999
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A Muskegon Heights police detective, fired for providing alcohol to an underage volunteer, started trial this morning for allegedly attacking the 18-year-old woman sexually.
Mel Jason Jordan, 34, is charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct for the alleged July 21, 1998, sexual assault at a Norton Shores park.
Jordan faces up to 15 years’ imprisonment if convicted as charged. Attorneys selected jurors by about 4 p.m. Tuesday in the 14th Circuit courtroom of Judge James M. Graves Jr., and Graves ordered the trial to start at 9:30 today.
Jordan remains free on a $25,000 cash bond.
Graves, granting a pretrial motion by defense attorney Terry Nolan, said he would allow statements the alleged victim made to Jordan that she liked to date black men. The woman is white; Jordan is African-American.
Authorities said Jordan sexually assaulted the woman, who was assisting the police in a sting operation to curb underage drinking and prostitution. Jordan has denied the allegation.
Officials said Jordan bought alcohol and drove the woman, who is now 19, to Ross Park near the Muskegon County Airport. There, he allegedly sexually molested and assaulted her, authorities said.
Jordan has said the allegation is a revenge tactic concocted by several officers upset with discipline he handed out as their supervisor in a job that paid $47,000-per-year.
The Kent County Prosecutor’s Office is handling the prosecution because Jordan, as a longtime local police officer, is well known in the local prosecutor’s office. State Police investigated the matter.
Earlier this year a fellow officer with whom Jordan had a relationship received a court order barring Jordan from contacting her.
Donna Whitsett, a patrol officer for Muskegon Heights police, in court documents said she and Jordan had dated over the last two years. During that time, Whitsett alleged, Jordan “has repeatedly assaulted me physically.”
Jordan disputed Whitsett’s version of events, but another circuit judge in February sided with Whitsett and granted the personal protection order against Jordan.
Testimony: Sexual liaisons created friction
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
August 6, 1999
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If sex and violence are the makings of a good novel, the Muskegon Heights Police Department might have a best seller.
Thursday’s testimony in the sexual assault prosecution of ex-Detective Mel Jason Jordan indicated Jordan juggled sexual relationships with three women at the same time – liaisons that created friction throughout the police agency.
One was an officer who worked for him, another a prostitute he had sex with at least three times a week, and a third was a restaurant manager with whom he lived.
The relationships suggested Jordan has proclivities for demanding sex from young women, but provided no direct link to allegations that Jordan sexually assaulted a Muskegon woman July 21, 1998, as she volunteered to help his department battle prostitution and underage drinking. The woman was 19 at the time; she is now 20.
Jordan, 34, is charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly attacking the woman at Ross Park in Norton Shores. He faces up to 15 years’ imprisonment if convicted as charged and remains free on a $25,000 cash bond.
This morning will begin the third day of testimony in the trial, which is expected to last at least through today.
The woman – The Chronicle does not identify alleged sexual assault victims – told the seven-woman, six-man jury panel that Jordan kissed her, groped her, then forced her to touch his penis. After she pushed him away and insisted he return her to the police department, Jordan allegedly sexually assaulted her with his hand as they drove, she said.
“He was all over me,” she told the court earlier this week.
Edward Lis, a Kent County prosecutor taking the case to trial, called to the witness stand two women who had sexual relationships with Jordan to show Jordan was sexually aggressive and demanding of sexual favors.
But on cross-examination, Terry Nolan, Jordan’s defense attorney, attempted to show the witnesses spoke out of sexual jealousy, career competition or revenge against Jordan for discipline he meted out to subordinates.
Muskegon Heights Officer Donna Whitsett testified Thursday that she began dating Jordan soon after starting her career at the Muskegon Heights Police Department two years ago. She grew to love him, she said.
But as their relationship grew, Jordan became more demanding and aggressive about sex, to the point that Jordan became “physically abusive,” Whitsett said.
Whitsett obtained a personal protection order against Jordan in February because “I couldn’t take it anymore ... I was afraid of him.”
Carrie Ellis, a dancer and former prostitute, said she had sex with Jordan three times a week for several months. She found him demanding and aggressive when it came to sex, she said. There was no testimony Thursday about whether money changed hands in the sexual relationship.
“He was a pig because of the way he did women ...” Ellis said.
One night, Jordan demanded sex when she didn’t want to provide it, but he forced her into it, Ellis said.
“I know the type of person he is, so I eventually gave in, (but) I just laid there,” she said. She also said she had sex with Philip Coleman, another Muskegon Heights officer.
Coleman, who worked for Jordan, also testified and denied having a sexual relationship with Ellis, Jordan’s girlfriend, but acknowledged he had “attempted (it), yes.” He also said he once planned to provoke Jordan into a fight by parking his car at the home of the woman Jordan lived with. But the plan was never carried out, Coleman said.
His complaint, Coleman said, was financial. Jordan reopened an arson investigation stemming from fires that erupted in two of Coleman’s automobiles – fires his insurer refused to pay for. Also, Jordan had removed him from a detective’s post, which reduced his salary.
Officer Gary Cheatum, whom Jordan suspended for assaulting a girlfriend, testified he got along well with Jordan until Jordan believed Cheatum was having sex with Whitsett. “He got upset...,” Cheatum said.
Called to the witness stand, Police Chief George Smith Jr. acknowledged “there were at times personal animosities toward Mel Jordan” but said he did not know of any direct efforts to frame Jordan.
Such conflicts between supervisors and workers are “routine,” Smith said.
Ex-officer's trial to restart Tuesday
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
August 7, 1999
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The trial of a former Muskegon Heights detective, charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman, will resume Tuesday.
Mel Jason Jordan, 34, is charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly attacking the woman at Ross Park in Norton Shores, in July 1998. He faces up to 15 years’ imprisonment if convicted as charged and remains free on a $25,000 cash bond.
The seven-woman, six-man jury panel, serving in the 14th Circuit courtroom of Judge James M. Graves Jr., spent Friday listening to Jordan’s taped statements to Michigan State Police investigators.
The daylong presentation portrayed Jordan as eager to tell his version of events. However, Jordan also contradicted himself several times and admitted lying about some of his actions.
The woman – The Chronicle does not identify alleged sexual assault victims – testified that Jordan kissed her, groped her, then forced her to touch his penis. After she pushed him away and insisted he return her to the police department, Jordan allegedly sexually assaulted her with his hand as they drove, she said.
“He was all over me,” she said.
But Terry Nolan, Jordan’s defense attorney, said the charges against Jordan stem from internal problems within the Muskegon Heights Police Department.
Career competition, sexual jealousy and revenge against Jordan for discipline he meted out to subordinate officers all played a part in the criminal charges against Jordan, Nolan said.
Jurors will return to Jordan’s taped statements at 9 a.m. Tuesday. The prosecution expects to wrap up testimony by about noon and turn the trial over to Nolan’s defense.
The case could be sent to jurors as early as Tuesday afternoon or the matter could extend throughout the week – depending on Nolan’s defense strategy.
Ex-detective arrested on drug charges
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
March 9, 2000
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A former Muskegon Heights police detective was arrested Wednesday night on drug charges.
Authorities also said Mel Jason Jordan, 34, of 1324 Eastwood, remains the target of a police corruption investigation focusing on his career as a Muskegon Heights detective and command officer. Jordan has been the subject of a grand jury probe and was prosecuted twice unsuccessfully for alleged crimes committed while on duty.
Jordan, who spent 12 years on the force, was arrested by narcotics officers from the West Michigan Enforcement Team on two warrants that charge him with delivery of marijuana.
Officers from WEMET went to Family Auto Center, 3146 Henry, about 7 p.m. to arrest Jordan, who works there as a used-car salesman, said Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague.
“At the time of his arrest, he ran and then struggled with officers,” Tague said. “A search of his person revealed an ounce to an ounce and a half of cocaine.”
Tague said Jordan made admissions to officers after his arrest, but the prosecutor declined to elaborate on the details.
Jordan is expected to be arraigned in 60th District Court this afternoon on the two marijuana charges, which are four-year felonies, and an additional charge of possession with intent to deliver cocaine, a 20-year felony.
Tague said Jordan has been the subject of a WEMET undercover investigation for several months and that an informant was used to make purchases from Jordan. He said the transactions were tape-recorded.
“One of the most disturbing aspects of the case is that the tape reveals the drug dealing occurred right in front of young children in Jordan’s home,” Tague said.
He said the Family Independence Agency’s child protective services division would be notified, and that he would seek the removal of the children from the home. He also said he was reviewing the possibility of charges against Jordan’s girlfriend, with whom he lives.
Tague said he also is reviewing reports of an ongoing Michigan State Police investigation into alleged police corruption involving Jordan during the time he worked as a detective in Muskegon Heights. Tague said he expects to authorize a warrant in connection with that probe.
Jordan was lodged in the Ottawa County Jail “for his safety,” because he was a police officer and could be endangered in a jail population. However, Tague said his office will conduct the prosecution.
For years Jordan has been the focus of law enforcement investigations.
In 1991, for example, a special state grand jury indicted Jordan on felony charges of drug delivery and obstruction of justice.
According to the indictment, Jordan took crack cocaine from drug dealers during drug raids and kept confiscated drugs and cash for his own use. However, a district judge later threw out the charges against the Heights detective.
In 1998, a 19-year-old woman helping the Muskegon Heights Police Department in an undercover investigation accused Jordan of giving her alcohol and raping her.
A jury in August 1999 acquitted Jordan of the rape charge, but he pleaded guilty to providing alcohol to the minor, a misdemeanor. For that, he was ordered to serve a six-month probation.
Law enforcement sources said Muskegon Heights police also were investigating allegations that Jordan destroyed evidence and assaulted another officer. Police Chief George Smith Jr. this morning declined comment.
More felony charges pending against ex-detective
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
March 10, 2000
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A former Muskegon Heights police detective is in jail today, charged with drug delivery and resisting police. But more felony charges are pending, officials said.
Mel Jason Jordan, 34, is held in the Ottawa County Jail on an $83,000 cash bond on charges of cocaine delivery, marijuana delivery and resisting police. He was arraigned on the felonies late Thursday in Muskegon’s 60th District Court.
District Judge Fredric A. Grimm Jr. scheduled a preliminary examination for March 23. If convicted as charged, Jordan faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment.
As a condition of bond, Jordan is to have no contact with two undercover officers who netted his arrest.
Jordan also must avoid Willie Fields, of 498 McLaughlin, a “confidential informant” whose identity was revealed at Thursday’s arraignment and in public search warrant documents. It was through Fields that WEMET officers arranged drug buys with Jordan.
Fields, 68, was charged Thursday with one count of cocaine delivery and carrying a concealed weapon. He is to undergo a preliminary examination on the charges on March 20 and March 21.
Fields also is a co-defendant with Jordan on the two marijuana counts, records show.
West Michigan Enforcement Team officers arrested Jordan Wednesday night at a Henry Street used-car dealership where he worked as a salesman. When approached by officers, Jordan fled and was subdued, police said. Officers retrieved marijuana and cocaine that he allegedly had in his pockets.
Les Bowen, chief trial attorney for the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office, argued for a high cash bond against Jordan.
During the investigation, Jordan threatened the life of Michigan State Police Detective Jack H. Vanderwal, of the Sixth District Headquarters, Grand Rapids, Bowen said.
Bowen also told the judge he thought Jordan might run away. Jordan not only fought with officers trying to arrest him Thursday, he fled to Georgia when he was arrested on rape charges two years ago, Bowen said. Jordan last year was acquitted of the rape charge.
Authorities also said Jordan is the focus of a corruption investigation that is centered on his employment as a detective sergeant with the Muskegon Heights Police Department.
“The Michigan State Police have provided me with reports outlining his alleged corruption during his employment as a detective,” said Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague. “I’m reviewing the matter and expect charges will be issued in the very near future”
Tague declined to spell out details of the corruption probe.
Muskegon Heights Police Chief George Smith Jr. could not be reached for comment.
The drug charges against Jordan stem from a two-month investigation, authorities said. Undercover officers made an initial drug purchase in late January and an additional “buy” was conducted in February.
Jordan has been a controversial figure for years. A special grand jury indicted him on corruption charges in 1991. Authorities at that time alleged he stopped young black men driving on I-96, shook them down for drugs then kept the drugs and money he confiscated. A judge later threw out the charges.
Two years ago, a 19-year-old woman said Jordan raped her. The incident occurred, the woman said, in a Norton Shores park while she was assisting Muskegon Heights police nab retailers selling alcohol to minors.
Jurors last year acquitted Jordan of the rape charge, but he pleaded guilty to furnishing alcohol to the underage woman and was placed on a six-month probation for the misdemeanor.
Fired from his job that paid about $50,000 annually because of the conviction, Jordan was appealing the firing at the time of his most recent arrest.
Jordan “won’t walk this time,” Tague said. “We have a rock-solid case and our office will prosecute”
Detective charged with corruption
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
March 16, 2000
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With charges of drug delivery and resisting police already lodged against him, a former Muskegon Heights police detective today was charged with official corruption for allegedly taking a bribe from a drug dealer and stealing police department cash.
Mel Jason Jordan, 34, was to be arraigned today in Muskegon’s 60th District Court on charges of extortion and embezzlement, felonies that could imprison him for 20 years.
Last week authorities arraigned Jordan on charges of cocaine- and marijuana-delivery and resisting police, felonies that also could carry a 20-year prison term.
Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department deputies arrested Jordan late Wednesday afternoon as he was about to be released from the Ottawa County Jail where he’d been held in lieu of an $83,000 cash bond.
Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said other Muskegon Heights officers might also face criminal charges.
Tague said evidence against Jordan “is overwhelming. I am expecting a plea”
Judge raises bond for ex-officer
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
May 19, 2000
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Muskegon’s chief circuit judge today increased bond against a former Muskegon Heights detective awaiting sentencing on multiple felony counts because he allegedly threatened to kill the state police investigator who arrested him.
But Chief Circuit Judge Timothy Hicks declined to allow Mel Jason Jordan to withdraw his guilty pleas to six felony charges. Hicks did, however, allow Terry Nolan, Jordan’s defense attorney, to quit the case.
Hicks ordered bond increased against Jordan from $87,000 to $105,000 and ordered the former police officer held in the Ottawa County Jail until the amount is posted or until he is sentenced. A new sentencing date has not been set.
Jordan, 34, in March pleaded guilty to six felonies that included cocaine and marijuana delivery, resisting police, extortion and embezzlement. He was to be sentenced today. Because of a plea bargain, Jordan faces a prison term of between three and 20 years.
Les Bowen, chief trial attorney for the Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office, said Jordan was taped making threats to kill Michigan State Police Detective Jack H. Vanderwal, whose 18-month investigation led to Jordan’s arrest.
In addition, Bowen said Jordan was taped trying to negotiate with an unnamed person to obtain a 9-millimeter handgun and on at least two occasions tried to manipulate an electronic tether that he must wear as a condition of bond.
Quoting Jordan’s secretly taped statements, Jordan told a friend that if he had a gun he’d use it against Vanderwal, Bowen said.
“This is an emotionally charged case,” Bowen said. “Jordan has much at jeopardy in his personal life and he’s made numerous threats against various people. We’re very, very concerned about this case.”
Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague said Jordan’s efforts to withdraw his guilty pleas are an attempt to manipulate the criminal justice system and Jordan is a danger to the public.
“The Michigan State Police and my office will take whatever steps are necessary to protect the public from Jordan,” Tague said.
Nolan said Jordan failed to pay him for representing him against rape charges last year for which Nolan won an acquittal. Nolan also provided Jordan with a $4,500 personal loan, which has not been repaid, he said.
In addition, tape recordings made by the state police contain Jordan making derogatory comments about Nolan, which erode the attorney-client relationship, Nolan said.
Jordan told Hicks that the tape-recorded comments about Nolan would affect not only the convictions he wishes to set aside “as well as other federal prosecutions.”
No federal charges have been filed against Jordan, although the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan has requested copies of Jordan’s pleas that he made before Hicks in March.
At the plea, Jordan in court admitted he took money to help an individual avoid prosecution. He also admitted converting to his own use Muskegon Heights Police Department money earmarked for undercover drug purchases. He pleaded guilty as well to struggling with West Michigan Enforcement Team officers when they arrested him on drug charges.
Asked if he was selling marijuana from his home, Jordan replied “absolutely.” He also said he intended to sell the cocaine the WEMET officers found on him following his arrest.
Judge delays action on ex-cop’s plea change
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
August 5, 2000
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A former Muskegon Heights police detective who pleaded guilty to six felonies involving drugs and embezzlement asked Muskegon’s chief circuit judge Friday to withdraw his plea , but 14th Circuit Chief Judge Timothy Hicks delayed the decision until Mel Jason Jordan’s former attorney is available to comment.
Hicks last month allowed Jordan to fire former attorney Terry Nolan after he cited a conflict of interest. However, Nolan wasn’t in court Friday and Hicks opted not to proceed until Nolan can be present to testify.
“We can’t do much about that (request to withdraw his plea) until Jordan’s former attorney Terry Nolan is available,” Hicks said. “We’re not going to hear a motion to withdraw the plea until that is resolved.”
Jordan pleaded guilty to felony counts including drug delivery, resisting police, extortion and embezzlement.
Criminal probe of attorney releases cop from guilty pleas
Muskegon Chronicle, The (MI)
October 29, 2000
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A former Muskegon Heights police detective can withdraw guilty pleas he made earlier this year because his lawyer was the subject of a criminal probe that pitted the detective’s interests against the attorney’s, Muskegon’s chief judge said.
“The appearance of impropriety here is rampant,” said Timothy G. Hicks, chief judge of the 14th Circuit. In a Friday night ruling, Hicks said Mel Jason Jordan, 34, may withdraw pleas to cocaine and marijuana delivery, resisting police, extortion and embezzlement and take the matters to trial. A trial date has not been set.
The reversal was necessary, Hicks said, because Terry Nolan, Jordan’s defense attorney at the time, was under investigation for unspecified criminal matters — an investigation that is continuing.
“This ongoing investigation is significant ... and it relates to criminal activity,” Hicks said. “Mr. Nolan’s involvement appears to be related to drugs.”
In 12 hours of hearings over several weeks, Shon Cook, appointed as Jordan’s public defender, claimed Nolan put his own concerns — including alleged drug use — ahead of Jordan’s when he allowed Jordan to plead guilty to the felonies.
The Muskegon County Prosecutor’s Office, however, argued that Jordan’s pleas should stand because Nolan is a gifted attorney who negotiated the pleas and obtained precisely what Jordan demanded — a minimum prison term of no greater than three years and abond to allow him to remain out of jail pen/ding sentencing.
Neither Nolan nor Muskegon County Prosecutor Tony Tague could be reached for comment following Hicks’ ruling.
Throughout the course of the hearings, neither Michigan State Police nor Muskegon County prosecutors spelled out how Nolan figured into a criminal probe. In fact, prosecutors refused to honor Cook’s Freedom of Information Act request for such information. They also declined to honor a subpoena to produce a witness to testify about the investigation. Prosecutors did, however, provide Hicks with a box of information related to the investigation that Hicks reviewed in chambers.
Nonetheless, testimony suggested the Nolan probe involved the May 1999 shooting of 28-year-old Thomas James Wasilewski that took place in Nolan’s car and allegations of drug use by Nolan.
Because of the ongoing criminal probe, Nolan could not provide Jordan with adequate representation, Hicks said.
“Mr. Nolan had his own criminal investigation,” Hicks said. “That his knowledge about that affected Mr. Jordan’s case can’t be ignored nor cavalierly dismissed.”
Hicks found several other conflicts as well.
Terry Nolan testified he loaned Jordan $4,500 to help Jordan’s mother keep her house. Since the money was not for business purposes and was not recorded in a written contract, the transaction violated attorney ethical rules, Hicks said.
Also, Nolan was aware that Jordan was heard on a tape-recorded state police surveillance tape saying that Nolan was “hooked up with Mexican drug dealers.” True or not, such an allegation must have shocked Nolan who then could not represent Jordan because of a breach of trust, Hicks said.
In addition, Hicks said Nolan’s knowledge that he was the focal point of a criminal probe pitted his interests against Jordan’s and “carefully limited his involvement in (Jordan’s) case.”
Nolan testified he agreed to represent Jordan only if Jordan would plead guilty as charged and not take the matters to trial. Nolan explained that position to prosecutors, but that admission undercut Nolan’s bargaining power, Hicks said. “The knowledge (by prosecutors) that Mr. Nolan is not in it for the long haul erodes the negotiating position,” he said.
Jordan also alleged improprieties by certain prosecutors and claimed he turned over incriminating information to the state police who provided it to the state attorney general.
Michigan State Police Detective Lt. Curtis Schram outside court said the attorney general’s office and his investigators reviewed the materials and found them “lacking in credibility.”
Terry Nolan testified he was unaware of a criminal investigation against him, said he didn’t know if he’d been subpoenaed by investigators, couldn’t recall much about the Wasilewski shooting and didn’t know if his brother Patrick had represented him.
But Patrick Nolan testified that his brother was the focus of a criminal investigation and acknowledged he sent letters to area judges and his firm’s clients informing them that Terry Nolan would be out of the office on “indefinite medical leave ... to resolve some serious medical problems with which he has been dealing for some time.” However, Patrick Nolan declined to spell out the nature of the medical problem. Cook suggested it was drug addiction.
Patrick Nolan also said he represented his brother on several matters for about two years and took part in discussions with the prosecutor’s office in connection with the criminal investigation into Terry Nolan’s alleged actions. He also represented Terry Nolan’s estranged wife in the prosecutor’s investigation, he said.
Patrick Nolan’s testimony was antagonistic. He argued over the meaning of words and said he couldn’t read documents placed in front of him because he’d forgotten his glasses. Hicks blasted his testimony and said he found it “not to be credible.”
Hicks also denounced Terry Nolan’s testimony. “He displayed to the court a surprising amount of ignorance about this ongoing investigation,” Hicks said. “As skilled as he is (as a trial lawyer) he (claimed he) had no knowledge of a criminal investigation as to him.”
