WWJ -- Former Macomb County Clerk Karen Spranger is reportedly under investigation in connection with the assault of a 78-year-old woman.
Warren Police Chief Bill Dwyer did not confirm to WWJ that Spranger is a suspect, but he did say police received a call from the elderly victim Tuesday, reporting she had been assaulted by a woman who was her caretaker around 11:30 a.m.
Dwyer says the victim was in the parking lot of the apartment complex where she and the suspect both live when she was assaulted.
While Dwyer did not confirm the suspect was indeed Spranger, a police report obtained by WWJ's Charlie Langton shows Spranger listed as a suspect accused of aggravated assault. The document alleges she used personal weapons (hands, feet, teeth).
Dwyer says the suspect, a woman in her 60s, over time also took money from her purse, totaling about $1,800 and stole her debit card.
"The suspect had reached out to her some time in October of last year and had offered to help with shopping, errands and other day-to-day needs," Dwyer told WWJ's Sandra McNeill.
"The suspect was hollering at her, belittling her, threatening her. It's an open investigation and we just have to see where it goes."
Spranger was ousted from her position as Macomb County Clerk last year after it was discovered she lied about her residency on the documents she filed to run for office. Shortly before her ouster, she was accused of kicking an employee.
According to County Chief Executive Mark Deldin, an employee at the Circuit Court building in Mt. Clemens reported that she was kicked by Spranger immediately after complaining to her supervisor about being harassed and threatened by the clerk.
"As the employee was exiting her immediate supervisor's office, Ms. Spranger tried to barge in through the doorway," Deldin told WWJ last March. "And as she was shutting the door, Ms. Spranger -- as if she was trying to put her foot or her leg in the doorway to avoid it being closed -- she kicked the employee in the process."
