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The laws regarding expungement of criminal offenses in Michigan changed in major ways in April of 2021. This page is designed to help applicants navigate their way through the new laws, help them determine if they are eligible to have convictions expunged, to answer frequently asked questions about the new laws, and to provide links for resources and assistance.
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The Michigan Attorney General is leading the fight against this horrific crime by prosecuting the state's first-ever criminal cases under state law banning human trafficking in Michigan. Victims of human trafficking are in bondage through force, fraud or coercion, for the purpose of sex or labor exploitation.
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July 16, 2025
LANSING – Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel today 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’ incarceration for sexual assaults perpetrated against a minor more than a decade ago. This prosecution was made possible under Operation Survivor Justice.
In 2014 Sutton, then 23 years of age, stayed overnight at the home of relatives in Manton during a brief return to Michigan. Sutton sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl multiple times overnight in her own home. The child victim reported the sexual abuse in 2015, by which point Sutton resided in Yakima, WA. The Michigan State Police conducted an investigation, and criminal charges were filed that year, though he was not extradited to Michigan at that time. Sutton was arrested in December of 2024 and subsequently extradited from the State of Washington to Wexford County by the U.S. Marshals Service as part of Operation Survivor Justice. Sutton pled guilty to three counts of Third-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct on June 6 before the 28th Circuit Court in Wexford County.
“Operation Survivor Justice is delivering justice for victims here in Michigan and taking known sexual offenders out of communities all across the country,” said Nessel. “I am grateful to our partners in Wexford County, the Michigan State Police, and the U.S. Marshals Service for their dedicated efforts to bring about justice for this victim, who had to wait much too long to see this day in court.”
The victim in this matter, now an adult, provided to the Court a victim impact statement ahead of Monday’s sentencing that read, in part, “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 later wrote, “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.”
Operation Survivor Justice is a partnership between the Michigan Department of Attorney General, local county prosecutors, and the U.S. Marshals Service to locate, apprehend, and return to Michigan fugitive offenders with outstanding sexual assault warrants.
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