DETROIT – Former Detroit City Council president Charles Pugh was arraigned Tuesday in a Detroit courtroom after being extradited from New York to face criminal sexual conduct charges in a case from more than a decade ago involving a then-14-year-old boy.
Pugh, 44, was arrested last month in New York, where he now lives. A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf at his arraignment. His bail was set at $500,000 cash.
Wayne County prosecutors said he engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior with a teen starting in 2003 when Pugh was a reporter and anchor at a Detroit TV station.
Pugh was elected to Detroit's City Council in 2009, but quit in 2013.
In a separate case, a federal jury last year awarded $250,000 to a young man who accused Pugh of sexually harassing him while he was in office and serving as a mentor.