Macomb Township Supervisor Tells Meeting Crowd She Was Threatened

Macomb Township Supervisor Janet Dunn told the crowd assembled for the Feb. 28 board meeting that she’d been personally threatened, telling those in attendance they could leave if they felt unsafe. Dunn declined to elaborate beyond the fact that there was a threat and that the Township was taking it “very seriously” and that the sheriff’s department was investigating.

On March 1, Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham told reporters that the threat in question was a comment from a woman in the audience that someone should shoot Dunn. The sheriff’s office is still interested in speaking with the woman, according to Wickersham.

Dunn didn’t elaborate on the actual threat, but did remind the assembled crowd that the meetings are conducted under the eye of an armed sheriff’s deputy.

“Outbursts from the audience and shouts of encouragement or discouragement will no longer be tolerated. If such an outburst occurs the meeting will be stopped for a recess,” Dunn said.

Since 2016, the large public corruption scandal involving Macomb County public officials, including Dunn’s fellow board members Clifford Frietas and Dino Bucci, have made the meetings extremely volatile. Dunn is no stranger to controversy. In 2013, she pleaded no contest to charges of election fraud amid allegations she falsified signatures needed to place her on the ballot, and in 2017, she paid a $100 fine and singed a conciliation letter for violating state election law by using one of the township’s fax machines for campaign activity.

Patch file photo.