A longtime victim advocate for the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office called Prosecutor Peter Lucido a “self-absorbed” leader who mistreated victims, destabilized the office, and triggered an exodus of experienced staff.
After 25 years of helping victims of crimes at the prosecutor’s office, Kay McGuire retired in January because she said she was burned out and disappointed that Lucido “destroyed the Victim’s Rights Unit as it was meant to be.”
In an email to Metro Times, McGuire detailed her concerns about Lucido’s management style, claiming it diminished personal services for survivors of crimes and severely undermined the Victim’s Rights Unit, which provides state-mandated services to victims.
McGuire, who began her career as one of the first domestic violence victim advocates in the office in 1998, described Lucido’s leadership as chaotic and self-serving.
Her allegations come at a crucial time for the Victim’s Rights Unit. The number of domestic violence cases handled by Lucido’s office jumped from 1,834 in 2020 to 2,650 last year.
McGuire decided to speak out after Lucido claimed in a news release in August that his office was providing “crucial support services” to an increasing number of victims.
“As a former employee who watched as Pete Lucido treated victims and staff with disdain and consistently hindered our Victim Services Unit, I can no longer sit back without rebutting his statements,” McGuire wrote.
McGuire said Lucido’s statistics are misleading and politically motivated. Without input from staff, Lucido ordered advocates to communicate with victims via text messages and emails, as opposed to having “personal contact with victims,” as had been the case for years, she said.
The move was not aimed at improving victim services, but rather, she said, to inflate his office’s “numbers” to make Lucido look better during an election year. Lucido, a Trump-supporting Republican, is running for a second term and will face Democrat Christina Hines in the general election in November.
“Lucido counts every text and email as a ‘contact’ and ‘service’ to victims,” McGuire explained.
She continued, “Let me be clear: This change was not made for the benefit of survivors. It was made to increase the number of victims we ‘served’ so that our numbers would be higher, which would make our office ‘look better’ — or in other words, for Pete Lucido’s own personal gain.”
McGuire is worried that Lucido’s approach puts survivors of domestic violence at risk, especially by reducing the amount of personal contact between advocates and victims.
“While this change may seem small to some, it can be devastating — and dangerous — for survivors of domestic violence,” McGuire said. “The Victim’s Rights Unit really needs to have personal contact with victims who have been through trauma.”
She added, “The personal contact can be the difference for a victim showing up to court or failing to appear because they believe it is too dangerous to show up and hold an abuser accountable. It is imperative that victims receive a call from a Victim Advocate and know their rights — regardless of what happens next with their case. Furthermore, an unexpected text, email, or letter that is found by the wrong person can be dangerous for a survivor’s safety.”
Beyond the changes to victim services, McGuire also accused Lucido of creating a toxic work environment, leading to an exodus of experienced staff. Since Lucido became prosecutor in January 2021, 55 people — including top prosecutors, investigators, and victim advocates — have left the office, according to McGuire.
“It is as if he was a hurricane that came in and decimated a town, and then bragged about the number of new houses he built,” McGuire said, referring to Lucido’s claims of hiring more women than his predecessors, despite the mass departures.
McGuire’s frustrations culminated in her resignation earlier this year. She said Lucido’s focus on appearances rather than actual services has harmed the office’s ability to support victims as intended.
“I am hoping that the voters of Macomb County read this and realize that Macomb County deserves better than Pete Lucido,” McGuire concluded.
When Metro Times reached out to Lucido for comment Wednesday, his spokesperson responded, “We cannot comment on past employees.”
McGuire is far from the first of Lucido’s former employees to speak out. Lucido, a former state lawmaker, has been a polarizing presence since taking office in 2021.
In his first term, Lucido has been accused of violating election laws, sexually harassing employees, firing a whistleblower, signing off on a “shady backroom deal” with a child abuser, surrounding himself with sexual abusers, and failing to alert the public about high-profile charges against two Warren cops.
Most recently, the Michigan Department of State determined that Lucido likely violated the Michigan Campaign Finance Act when he distributed a county newsletter containing a link to his campaign website.
