FLINT, Mich. (AP) — Records show Genesee County paid $212,500 to avoid a lawsuit over Facebook posts about a critic of the county sheriff.
The Flint Journal used a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain information about the payoff on the potential claim to attorney Glen Lenhoff. Records show the resolution was approved by the Genesee County commissioners.
The agreement notes Sheriff Robert Pickell “will undertake all reasonable efforts to urge any persons that may have been involved with Facebook postings as to Lenhoff” to remove them.
A proposed lawsuit said Lenhoff was “viciously defamed” on Facebook via “fictitious accounts” as retaliation after he spoke out against Pickell during a 2014 sexual misconduct case involving the sheriff’s department.
Pickell has said he had no part in creating the Facebook posts involved.
