Today Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that Dustin Lee Sutton, 34, formerly of Cadillac and most recently residing in the State of Washington, was sentenced Monday to 6-15 years for sexual assaults perpetrated against a minor more than a decade ago. The prosecution was made possible under Operation Survivor Justice.
Operation Survivor Justice is a program that seeks to remove barriers for county prosecutors to take sexual predators to court when the perpetrator has left the state. Extradition is expensive. The $1 million dollar program was announced last August.
Here is a photo of Sutton, and an explanation of the investigation conducted by the Michigan State Police:
The victim, now an adult, provided a statement to the court, saying, “I have spent a decade trying to heal myself without answers. Anger is the only thing that comes up when I talk/think about this. I feel sick to my stomach still thinking of him touching my body and not being able to protect myself.” She added, “People like this are a danger to society and children especially. I am glad I decided to go through with this to prove that the trauma of what happens may dull mentally by blocking it out, but the body? That never forgets. The way I feel when I look at myself will never go away because of men like this. It saddens me that these things still continue to happen.”
Thanks to a reader.