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PPO Termination Denied for Kent County Commissioner

Posted at 8:37 PM, Nov 09, 2012
and last updated 2013-02-20 12:51:49-05

MUSKEGON, Mich-

Kent County Commissioner Gary Rolls left the Muskegon County Courthouse disappointed.

Moments before, he lost a two day battle to terminate a personal protection order filed against him.

A 28 year old woman from Muskegon filed the PPO, alleging Rolls sexually abused her starting at age nine. She says it continued for 14 years.

She also claims she was verbally and physically abused and that he threatened her life, if she told anyone anything about their relations.

The defense attorney tried to verify dates and challenged her ability to give an accurate recollection of events. He even questioned her timing, ordering a PPO a little over a month before the November election, in which commissioner rolls was just re-elected.

However, the judge wasn’t convinced that the PPO should be overturned. This delivered a blow to the defense.

“Even under a preponderance of the evidence, he called it a close call. So from that standpoint, I think it’s clear that there’s a lot more to this story then the petitioner even presented in this
case, uh, there may be something that has to be discovered down the road a little further,” John Karafa, Rolls’ defense attorney said.

According to the paperwork, that PPO expires in September of next year. At day one of the hearing, a Michigan State Police detective mentioned bringing possible criminal sexual conduct charges against Rolls.

Stay with FOX 17 News for the latest.