Houghton County Clerk Candidate Accused of Harassment

One of the candidates running for Houghton County Clerk is being accused of harassing the other candidate by phone.

At last night’s Houghton County Board of Commissioners meeting, commissioner Glenn Anderson said Republican Justin Kasieta conspired with a Genesee County man to place the call to incumbent Democrat Jennifer Kelly around 1:00 in the morning on March 6th… [ANDERSON A].

In a statement Kelly provided to Keweenaw Report, Kelly says the caller first identified himself as being with TV6 News, wanting to film her home. Kelly says she didn’t think TV6 would call at 1:00 in the morning, so she challenged the caller. The caller then said he was from TLC Hoarders, and had seen the inside of her home. She says he went on to say that he was going to make sure she was never re-elected, then threatened to poison and kill her dogs and throw them in a dumpster.

Kelly called the Houghton County Sheriff’s Department. An investigation of the phone number from which the call allegedly originated led detectives to Matt Smith, a member of the Davison School Board, and a candidate for the Genesee County Board of Commissioners. According to a report compiled by WJRT television in Flint, Smith told investigators that he had not originated the call, and that someone must have spoofed his number. He then filed his own police report, alleging that the spoofing had been going on for some time. His attorney asserted that Kelly is making the whole story up. See WJRT’s report here.

Kelly says she identified Smith’s voice. Detectives traced a connection between Smith and Kasieta. Kasieta was questioned by the Houghton County Sheriff’s Department. In her statement, Kelly said she was told that he had admitted involvement during questioning, and there is a confession in the case file. Yesterday, Houghton County Sheriff Brian McLean told us that is not true. He said Kasieta immediately claimed his right to counsel, and made no statement.

At last night’s board meeting, Anderson said that Kasieta has now admitted his role…

That conflicts, though, with a statement Kasieta sent us after the meeting last evening, in which he again denies any involvement in the call, and says he does not condone threats of any type. The letter, written and signed by attorney Matthew Eliason, suggests that the call may have been the idea of an overzealous supporter, and that Kelly should focus on the real issues of the election, rather than “diverting community and state resources to investigating a prank call.” See the letter here.

Anderson says the case is well documented…

He called on Kasieta to remove himself from the race for county clerk…

No other commissioners commented on the situation. Kelly attended the meeting in her official capacity as county clerk, but made no comment.

Much of the investigation in Genesee County was handled by the Michigan State Police. Lt. Liz Rich in the Bay District office yesterday confirmed to us their role in the investigation. She said she could not comment further, because the case has been turned over to the Michigan Attorney General, although she did mention that charges could include harassment and filing a false report. A spokesman for the Attorney General’s office also declined to comment on specifics of the case. He confirmed that it was in the very early stages of review, and that no charges have been filed. He also said that, if the Attorney General does decide to proceed, the case will probably be sent back to the county level for prosecution.

Here is the full statement Kelly provided to Keweenaw Report, as received (note that it contains some vulgar language, as she describes the alleged contents of the call):

There has been a lot of talk about bullies lately, and in this election season, there are no shortage of them. As Midwesterners, we have been taught to treat people with respect, even when we disagree with our neighbors. We were taught that democracy involves differences of opinion and that thoughtful debate is the way through. As your County Clerk in Houghton County, I want to assure you that I will always fight bullies and I will always stand up for what is right–especially after what has happened to me here in Houghton County one night, my home of 49 years.

On March 6th, at 1:01AM, I received a phone call that would cement my commitment against bullies. “I am calling from TV 6 News, to film your home,” said a voice I will never forget. Doubting very much that TV 6 would call me at 1:01AM I asked who the caller was. “It is TLC Hoarders, Bitch.” I am paraphrasing, but he went on to tell me that he has seen the inside of my home. I was shocked. Like many women who are threatened, I froze. Then he said, “I am going to make sure you are never re-elected you fucking bitch.” I panicked for a minute, but then I found my strength and told him I was going
to hang up. Before I hung up he threatened to both “poison and kill my dogs and throw them in a dumpster.”

I ran to my garage and to each door and locked it, made sure my father was safe and called the sheriff. I shut all my curtains and stood guard over my home and father until dawn. The sheriff called for a trooper to come to my house, but none came. The telephone company was able to retrieve the telephone number and the sheriff of this town was vigilant and traced the call to Matt Smith, in Geneffe County. The detective researched Facebook and revealed that Matt Smith and Justin Kasieta were connected. The police report from Houghton County has Justin Kasieta’s confession of being on the call
that night: the report says that Kasieta “was on a three-way call and listened to Smith call Kelly.”

I was asked by police to identify the voice and it was the voice of Matt Smith–a voice I will never forget for its evil intent. But what cemented Smith’s involvement was the fact that when the detective called Smith, he used the same phone number as was used to call me when he returned the call–the same one traced in the call.

Detective Saaranen told me that Justin confessed and was willing to put together an agreement in order to keep his job with Representative Greg Markkanen. At this point Justin retained an attorney, who proposed an agreement that he would confess to the crime and that he would withdraw from running in return for not pressing charges. This agreement was to be a written confession. But I never saw the agreement, and even though I have not seen it, it is more important for the truth about Justin to come out.

While the county investigated these two, I was asked to keep quiet while the county and state police investigated. Just yesterday, I was told I could share my story publicly.

But the story goes from two to three. Detective Saarinen reported to me that Justin was on the phone that very evening. The detective was the first one to confirm that Jake Puhtala, who works for Senator McBroom, was also on the call. It broke my heart to learn this, as I have known Jake and his family for years. This was not discovered until the Michigan State Police investigated further telephone records.

Kasieta’s confession is in the report. John Gleeson, Gennessy’s County Clerk, has seen Matt Smith’s confession as well. “You’ve been had,” he said, of the many who are trying to cover up these bad deeds.

My case now sits on the desk of Attorney General Dana Nessel. I hope we can bring these three to justice–for their own good and for our community. After seven long months I hope these individuals to be held accountable according to Michigan law.

Evil deeds should not go unpunished. Bullies should face prosecution–because no election is worth our integrity. I remember when we all stood up for what we knew was right instead of blindly taking sides. We need to get back to that. Every Republican, Democrat, Libertarian and others deserve to live in a safe society. I will fight for that safety and integrity as long as I can.

There are heroes, too. County Clerk John Gleeson is one. There are many others.