LANSING (WWJ) – Jonathan Byrd, a former Laborers’ Union leader and prominent figure in Michigan politics, has been charged with criminal sexual conduct.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday Byrd was charged with fourth-degree CSC for an incident at a party in April 2022.
Byrd, 40, of Battle Creek, had been “a prominent figure in Michigan politics and governmental lobbying on behalf of his employer, the Michigan Laborers' District Council, of the Laborers' International Union of North America, or LiUNA,” according to Nessel’s office.
Byrd is alleged to have “forcibly moved the victim's hand onto his penis” at a social gathering in Kalamazoo County in April 2022, according to the AG’s office.
Officials say Byrd and the victim worked in the same field and he “held a position of much influence in the Capitol and around the state in the realm of government and politics.”
Nessel says his position “provided a significant power imbalance between him and the victim.”
“In the state of Michigan we will hold sexual predators accountable no matter how well-connected they are and irrespective of whatever prominence they enjoy in the dealings of our government,” Nessel said, per a press release.
Byrd has since resigned from his employment as director of external affairs for the Michigan Laborers' District Council of LiUNA and his role as president of the South-Central Michigan Area Labor Council of the Michigan AFL-CIO.
A court date has yet to be scheduled.
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