Detroit Criminal Justice System

Michigan prosecutors have charged retired Detroit Police Department Sgt. Benjamin Wagner, 68, with 14 felony counts including eight counts of first‑degree criminal sexual conduct and five counts of kidnapping, accusing him of living a “double life” as a serial rapist who assaulted five young women and girls between 1999 and 2003 on Detroit’s northwest side. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy says Wagner allegedly targeted victims aged 15 to 23 in the early‑morning hours, approached from behind with a pistol, forced them to isolated locations near his home and raped them without a condom. The case grew out of a multiyear investigation tied to the 2009 discovery of more than 11,000 untested sexual‑assault kits abandoned in a Detroit police warehouse, a scandal that has already drawn national scrutiny to how U.S. departments handle rape evidence. Wagner, who served with DPD from 1989 until his decorated retirement in 2017, was arrested in Greenville, North Carolina earlier this month and waived extradition to Michigan, though potential gun charges are time‑barred under the state’s six‑year statute of limitations. Officials say all five known victims promptly reported their assaults years ago and had rape kits collected at the time, and they are now urging any additional potential victims to contact Detroit police as internal‑affairs and prior‑complaint questions about Wagner’s career remain unanswered publicly.