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Charles Pugh Drops Appeal, Begins Making Payments In Sex Grooming Settlement

DETROIT (WWJ) - Former Detroit City Councilman Charles Pugh has dropped his appeal against a $250,000 settlement in a teen sex grooming case.

Attorney Bill Seikaly represents the victim, now 21 years old, who claimed Pugh acted inappropriately toward him after they met at a Detroit high school.

Seikaly told WWJ's Sandra McNeill that Pugh is paying up.

"We were involved in some negotiations initiated by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. Ultimately, we reached an agreement in which the appeal was dropped and a payment plan was developed, and we're collecting our judgement," Seikaly said.

Seikaly said an installment plan requires Pugh to pay portion of earnings until the settlement has been paid off. The amount of the payments will be kept confidential.

The young man said Pugh, who worked as a TV reporter before switching to politics, make sexual advances while serving as a mentor at Douglass Academy in 2012.

Pugh abruptly quit city government in 2013 and moved to New York when allegations surfaced, later saying he was embarrassed.

A police report said sexually explicit text messages and a video were exchanged between Pugh and the young man, who was 17-years-old when he met Pugh — the city's first openly gay elected official.

"I wanna see your body. Front and back. So the video has to show everything," one message read. "I pay MORE for solos lol. $125 for solos and $150 if u shoot the vid over here lol," said another text message.

Pugh denied touching teen, known as K.S., but admitted to sending the inappropriate texts.

One message seemed to imply he knew what he was doing was wrong: "If anyone finds out about this, I'm dead. Erase these messages," Pugh allegedly told the teen.

The lawsuit claimed Pugh was given extraordinary access to boys, and that the school didn't do enough to protect students. The Detroit school district was settled for $350,000.

Police investigated but no criminal charges were filed.

Seikaly was asked how his client is dealing with it all.

"My client's working and he is continuing to progress through this process. This has been a very difficult thing for him, as you know. It's never a straight line with kinds who have gone through this process," Seikaly said.

"So he makes some progress, has some backward movement, makes some progress. We're happy that that progress has been in a positive way thus far."

TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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