LANSING, Mich. (WXYZ) — Disgraced former Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith could lose up to 40% of his county pension following action taken by Attorney General Dana Nessel in response to a 7 Action News investigation.
The disgraced ex-prosecutor pleaded guilty to three felonies earlier this month, admitting to using money from the county’s drug forfeiture accounts for his own benefit.
“It’s not just that during that time period that Eric Smith wasn’t doing good work for county government,” Nessel said in an interview with Channel 7’s Ross Jones. “He was stealing from the county that was paying his salary and that would be paying his pension.”
Nessel's office says Smith used forfeiture funds to pay for a security system for his home, campaign expenditures and more.
In all, they allege that more than $600,000 was improperly allocated, though Smith only personally benefited from under $20,000 in expenses.
“He was using it for office parties, he was using it to put in the hands of community people who would residually be very happy with this candidate for office,” said Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake.
Federal and state criminal investigations already took the former Macomb County prosecutor’s job and law license. But with a filing made this month, Nessel is pursuing much of Smith’s pension, too.
“To me, it was very important that there be consequences for Eric Smith’s pension,” Nessel said. “That was something we were intractable on. We refused to compromise or negotiate on that.”
The action comes as a direct result of a 7 Action News investigation in 2021 showing that despite a law on the books allowing for corrupt public officials’ pensions to be forfeited, they seldom — if ever — were.
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Nessel promised to take action.
“Until you brought this to my attention, it wasn’t something that I thought of,” she told 7 Action News in 2021. “And that’s on me as an elected official. I should be familiar with the law. I should know it inside and out.”
Nessel's office sought an order of forfeiture this month, going after Smith’s pension from the time his illegal conduct began in 2014.
Valued at just under $6,900/month, Nessel’s office estimates that 35% to 40% of Smith’s pension will be taken from the ex-prosecutor, dropping it to as little as $4,100 a month.
What’s forfeited will go back Macomb County taxpayers.
“I’m pleased to see that these criminals are paying some price,” said Runestad, who helped write the law Nessel is using to go after Smith’s pension.
But he’s not convinced that taxpayers aren’t owed more.
“They went back eight years. This man has been almost 16 years in office and nobody can tell me why they stopped for eight years. “
A spokesperson for Nessel says that Michigan State Police investigators believe Smith’s corruption could have started as early as 2012, but her office only secured a guilty plea for misconduct beginning in 2014.
Nessel insists that her office gave Smith no brakes.
“It’s not about partisanship, it’s not about the political party that they belong to,” she said. “It’s about their conduct in office and whether they violated the law.”
Exactly how much of Smith’s pension will be forfeited will be determined by the Macomb County Retirement System. Smith also agreed to paying county taxpayers $25,000 in restitution.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 12.
Contact 7 Investigator Ross Jones at ross.jones@wxyz.com or at (248) 827-9466.