City of Warren (screenshot)
Warren City Councilman Eddie Kabacinski at a recent meeting.
Warren City Councilman Eddie Kabacinski was convicted Wednesday of a misdemeanor for selling Trump-related merchandise in Utica without a permit.
It’s the second time in less than a year that the conservative councilman was convicted of a crime related to his fervent support of former President Donald Trump.
In August 2022, Kabacinski was sentenced to one year of probation and anger management classes after he handcuffed a woman for posting Black Lives Matter stickers on a Trump yard sign in Eastpointe in October 2020.
On Wednesday, a 41A District Court jury found him guilty of selling Trump-related merchandise at a rally in August 2021, in violation of city ordinances.
Judge Douglas P. Shepherd sentenced Kabacinski to one year of non-reporting probation and $500 in fines and costs. He also was ordered to pay $200 in attorney fees and $125 in probation fees.
During the trial, Kabacinski insisted he was giving the merchandise away in exchange for donations to Trump’s Save America Political Action Committee.
Kabacinski, a retired Army veteran, didn’t respond to Metro Times for comment. He has vowed to appeal and to file a federal lawsuit against the city of Utica.
In September 2021, Kabacinski’s colleagues on the council called on state officials to consider disciplinary actions against him after his arrest for selling the merchandise.
In October 2021, Kabacinski was arrested for a third time in a little over a year for refusing to don a mask inside the former TCF Center in downtown Detroit. Kabacinski and a bushy-bearded cameraman wearing a Make America Great Again hat marched into the building without masks, en route to a public hearing on redistricting. Detroit police stopped Kabacinski and said he must wear a mask, pointing out the building was used as a vaccination site.
Kabacinski, who was wearing a “Conservative Values Matter” shirt, identified himself as a Warren councilman and called the officers “Gestapo” while demanding to enter the meeting maskless.
Kabacinski was back in the news last week when he launched into a homophobic and transphobic rant moments before his colleagues voted on an anti-discrimination ordinance.
Kabacinski voted “absolutely not” on the ordinance, falsely claiming that LGBTQ+ people are “preying on the youth of our society to change their gender.”
“For religious reasons, I cannot get on board with endorsing the behavior of the [LGBTQ+] community,” Kabacinski said.
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