Michael Haughee, a prominent Porter County Democrat and a former Hebron Town Council president, was convicted on Friday of sexually battering a Hebron woman in a wheelchair in February 2006.

A six-person jury convicted Haughee on all charges, Porter County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Cheryl Polarek told the Chesterton Tribune on Monday: one count of sexual battery, a Class D felony punishable by a term of six months to three years in prison; criminal confinement, also a Class D felony; and interference with the reporting of a crime, a Class A misdemeanor.

Haughee is facing a maximum term of seven years.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed by Det. Cpl. Jim Tinnel of the Hebron Police Department, the victim advised that she had met Haughee at a health club approximately a year previously and that in the summer of 2005 he had come to her home unannounced and asked her to perform a sexual act. She refused and made a joke, angering Haughee and prompting him to leave her home, the victim advised.

Then, on Feb. 18, 2006, Haughee came to her home again, knocked, and entered uninvited after she opened the door, the victim advised. This time Haughee approached her as she was sitting in her wheelchair, grabbed her by the back of the neck, and began to kiss her forcefully, the victim advised. She slapped him away and Haughee backed off for a moment, the victim advised, but he then attempted to kiss her once more and touched her breast. Again she slapped Haughee and tried to move her wheelchair, the victim advised, but Haughee grabbed the wheelchair’s rails and would not allow her to move.

At this point she grabbed her cordless telephone and told Haughee that she was going to call the police, the victim advised, but Haughee took it from her and subsequently replaced it in the charger, standing between her and the phone and telling her it would be useless to call the police because they would not believe her.

Haughee then apologized and offered to cook her a salmon dinner, the victim advised.

In an interview on May 1, 2006, Tinnel stated in his affidavit, Haughee initially denied knowing the woman, then characterized her allegations as ridiculous and said that he knew her from the health club. When asked whether he had ever been to the woman’s home, Tinnel stated, Haughee said that he believed he had visited her once to talk to her about becoming a registered voter but was unable to recall exactly when. Haughee did say that he had been to the woman’s home two times or fewer, Tinnel stated.

When asked whether he had kissed the woman, Tinnel stated in his affidavit, Haughee said that “he may have kissed her but he didn’t believe that he did.” Haughee then said that “he did believe he gave her a kiss,” Tinnel stated, “but wasn’t sure if it was on the cheek or the mouth.” When asked whether he had ever touched her breast, Tinnel stated, Haughee said that “I don’t think I would’ve.”

During the interview, Haughee said that the woman “had a lot of physical problems and that he would appreciate it if I would just drop the case,” Tinnel stated in his affidavit. Haughee also “began to talk about the percentage of cases like this and his experience as a prosecuting attorney with these types of cases,” Tinnel stated.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. March 6 before Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper.

Posted 1/29/2008