MT. CLEMENS (WWJ) - Michigan State Police have executed search warrant at the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office in connection with a criminal probe.
According to State Police Lt. Darren Green, officials with the MSP First District Special Investigation Division were on the scene for about four hours Wednesday, at the office of Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith, located at 1 South Main Street in Mt. Clemens.
Speaking to WWJ Newsradio 950's Pat Vitale, Green said the search warrant is part of continuing investigation into Smith and his usage of Macomb County forfeiture funds, and that State Police are handling the case at the request of the Michigan Attorney General's Office, to avoid any conflict of interest.
As for what investigators are after, concerned parties tell WWJ's Jon Hewett questions surround the handling of up to $900,000 in forfeiture funds by Smith's office, from drunken driving and other arrests -- including money allegedly spent on parties and credit cards.
Macomb County Commissioner Leon Drolet has a lot of questions.
"The documentation has not been provided saying why did he write a $20,000 check to American Express? Whose American Express card was it? What was those $20,000 for? We don't know." Drolet said. "So, this raid will hopefully secure...any documentation that's been maintained or saved, so that any crimes that have been committed, and I believe that there are crimes have been committed, can be prosecuted."
Saying he realizes that this "doesn't look great," Smith told Hewett and other reporters that he is cooperating fully with investigators.
"We handed over whatever they wanted, and mostly what they wanted was documents," Smith said. "We gave documents to them, and we gave them...a bankers box full of receipts and records that were on all of these checks."
Smith said he in fact welcomes the AG's investigation after what he called six months of "falsehoods in the press."
No charges have been filed in the case.