Solicitor General Hammoud selects internal chief investigator for Flint criminal cases
Weeks after taking the lead on the Flint water crisis criminal cases, Solicitor General Fadwa Hammoud has selected a career law enforcement officer as the teams new chief investigator.
Jeff Seipanko, a member of the Attorney General’s Flint investigative team for three years, replaces Andy Arena, who had been appointed by former Attorney General Bill Schuette as chief investigator in the Flint Water Investigation. Hammoud relieved Arena of his assignment earlier this week.
Seipanko has been imbedded as the only certified law enforcement officer with the Flint Water Investigative Team since its inception. During that time, Seipanko has served as the officer in charge of all currently charged cases.
“Jeff Seipanko possesses the institutional knowledge and experience required to manage and direct all future investigative assets to bring these cases to conclusion,” said Hammoud. ”It is important that we strengthen our internal team with certified law enforcement officers from within our department as we move forward with criminal prosecutions.”
Special Agent Seipanko has more than 32 years of law enforcement experience, including 29 years with the Dearborn Heights Police Department. He retired there with the rank of captain, leading the Investigative Services Division. During his career, Seipanko has successfully led narcotic and surveillance teams, detective units, special operations and internal affairs investigations.
Seipanko has decades of specialized investigative experience where he has managed and directed complex criminal investigations.
Michigan man gets life without parole in 6 shooting deaths
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A southwestern Michigan man who fatally shot six strangers in between picking up passengers for Uber was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Jason Dalton, 48, received the mandatory sentence in Kalamazoo County court. He pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder last month, just as jury selection was about to begin.
Dalton admitted shooting eight people in three locations in the Kalamazoo area in February 2016. After his arrest, police quoted Dalton as saying a “devil figure” on Uber’s app was controlling him on the day of the shootings.
Four women were killed in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant: Barbara Hawthorne, Dorothy “Judy” Brown, Mary Lou Nye and her sister-in-law, Mary Jo Nye. Rich Smith and his 17-year-old son, Tyler Smith, were fatally shot while looking at a pickup truck in a dealer’s lot.
Abigail Kopf, who was 14 at the time, was shot in the head during the restaurant shooting and survived. Tiana Carruthers was shot and wounded in a residential area.
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