Former Police Officer Pleads Guilty In Public Integrity Case

(CBS Detroit) —A former Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety officer who was previously bound over to circuit court on misconduct and perjury charges following a 2019 incident in Jackson County has pleaded guilty.

David Lubahn, 52, pled guilty to a two-year offense of lying to a peace officer. He pled guilty before 22nd Circuit Court Judge Carol Kuhnke, who was appointed to preside over the case.

Lubahn was charged in September 2020 with one count of perjury of a record or document, a 15-year felony, and one count of misconduct in office, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

He was bound over in February on both counts.

"We hold police officers to a high standard and expect them to abide by the law in each and every circumstance," said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. "Mr. Lubahn broke the law and must be held accountable."

When Lubahn was an on-duty police officer in Blackman-Leoni Township, he conducted an illegal search and seizure.

He also made false statements in his police report and a misrepresentation and omission in the affidavit for a search warrant about his actions.

The entire incident was caught on his own body camera that he was wearing.

Lubahn was fired from the Blackman-Leoni Township Public Safety Department on September 15, 2020, after charges were filed and announced.

As part of the plea agreement reached, Lubahn will forfeit his Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) law enforcement license, and he must waive his administrative appeal rights.

He will be unable to serve as a police officer in Michigan again.

Sentencing is scheduled for May 4 at 1:30 p.m. in the 22nd Circuit Court.

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