Sandy MaloneCharlotte, MI – A former sheriff’s department clerk is facing 10 felonies and four misdemeanors in connection with filing a false police report that accused a sheriff’s deputy of sexually assaulting her.
Kellie Bartlett, 35, filed a report in January of 2018 with the Michigan State Police that claimed she had been sexually assaulted by a deputy in 2017, the Lansing State Journal reported.
Michigan State Police Detective Sergeant Erik Darling testified at a hearing that an investigation into Bartlett’s claim had determined she was a “willing and consenting partner in this act.”
Bartlett and the deputy were both working for the Eaton County Sheriff’s Office in 2015 when they began a relationship, according to WILX.
The deputy ended the relationship in the spring of 2017, and asked Bartlett to stop contacting him.
Bartlett continued to contact the deputy and so he reported the problem to his supervisors, according to WILX.
She testified that she had continued to contact the deputy because he owed her money and she wanted him to repay her.
Bartlett later said she didn’t initially report the sexual assault because she was afraid she would be accused of lying, the Lansing State Journal reported.
“I felt like I kept getting the treatment that I’m just a scorned woman, that I’m just crazy and I think if I had come out with it at that time it would have looked even worse,” she said. “I think it would have just been chalked up to that.”
A mission team was assigned to investigate Bartlett for stalking, WILX reported.
She was fired by the Eaton County sheriff after December of 2017.
The next month, Bartlett contacted the state police to accuse the deputy of rape, WILX reported.
Both cases – the deputy’s allegations of stalking and Bartlett’s sexual assault accusations – were referred to the Eaton County prosecutor, but the prosecutor’s office removed itself from the case due to conflict of interest so the Barry County prosecutor took over.
A judge ordered Bartlett to have no contact with the deputy in September of 2018, but on Oct. 4, 2018 she was alleged to have had third-party contact with the deputy, according to WILX.
She was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault, an upgraded charge because she had violated the protection order.
Her bond was set at $100,000 and she was also prohibited from using the Internet or social media, WILX reported.
Bartlett was also charged with two felony counts of using a computer to commit a crime, two felony counts of identity theft, three felony counts of unauthorized access to a computer, and one felony count of conspiracy.
Additionally, she was charged with several misdemeanors including one count of false report of a felony, two counts of stalking, one count of intentional dissemination of sexually explicit visual material, and two counts of using a computer to commit a crime, according to WILX.
Another ex-girlfriend of the deputy, Lisa Underhill, was also arrested and charged with a slew of related felonies after she teamed up with Bartlett to torment the law enforcement officer, the Lansing State Journal reported.
Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt said Bartlett and Underhill were accused of creating a fraudulent Facebook profile using the deputy’s personally identifiable information.
The women also created fake email addresses in the deputy’s name, Pratt said.
Underhill pleaded no contest on Feb. 8 to a misdemeanor charge of attempted unlawful posting of a message on a computer and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 26, according to the Lansing State Journal.