Case Watch
Both defendants sentenced in 2022; records released in 2026
Circuit Case Nos. 20-10362-FC, 21-10409-FH (Aker) and 20-10354-FH (Horvath) · November 22, 2020
A November 2020 sexual assault report led to two arrests and, over the next sixteen months, to a set of plea agreements that the Delta County Prosecutor's Office has now produced in full. Dustin Thomas Aker pleaded no contest to an added count while four original counts and a second file were dismissed, on a recommendation of no more and no less than five years — and was sentenced to 80 months to 10 years. Sydney Ann Horvath pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment, not a sexual offense, and received 71 months to 15 years. Seven FOIA requests filed in April 2026 produced the search-warrant packets, four state forensic laboratory reports, the plea sheets and four plea-negotiation emails, at no charge. They also produced a bare certificate of nonexistence for sixteen categories of fingerprint records, and a denial of autopsy records that at least explained itself: no one died, so no autopsy was conducted.
Case Watch
Both cases concluded; one defendant's file not produced
Circuit Case Nos. 2024-0000011271-FH & 2024-0000011270-FH · April 30, 2024
A June 2025 request asked for the defendant names and final dispositions from the April 2024 UPSET investigation of an Escanaba bar. Two men were arraigned. The Delta County Prosecutor's Office produced two judgments of sentence for one of them and never mentioned the other, whose guilty plea, two-day jail sentence, $908 in fines and twelve months of probation the office itself had described to the local newspaper three days before signing the response.
Case Watch
Active case watch
Delta County Case No. 2024000077 / 24-FY-244 · May 30, 2024
A May 2024 UPSET traffic stop produced two felony methamphetamine cases. One defendant's case was dismissed without prejudice after a federal indictment; the other's file was never produced. When the prosecutor's office answered a FOIA for the records, it checked two mutually exclusive boxes at once and cited a statute that does not say what the office claims it says.
Case Watch
Active case watch
Delta County Case #25-1977 · October 17, 2025
A 26-year-old man was killed in a head-on collision with a driver more than twice the legal alcohol limit. The drunk driver was charged with a misdemeanor. The victim's blood was never tested by the state crime lab. A full documentary record of the crash data, toxicology, accident reconstruction, charging decision, and FOIA responses.
Case Watch
Case dismissed without prejudice
Circuit Case No. 25-11296-FH · December 28, 2024
A December 2024 arrest produced three felony counts against a parolee. Five months later the prosecutor dismissed all three in a single sentence citing a federal prosecution that the file never documents. The FOIA response names three records but produces one page, and its denial notice cites no statutory subsection in the letter itself.
Case Watch
Active case watch
23-011013-FC · July 16, 2023
A homicide witness told the Delta County Sheriff that a sergeant texted her “too drunk to drive,” asked her to come to his home, and threatened to “get her in trouble for dealing cocaine.” The sheriff forwarded the complaint, the prosecutor’s office documented two shifts of unpaid discipline, Michigan State Police closed the review as unfounded, and the Court of Appeals later held the sergeant’s role in the murder investigation was pertinent to the defense. FOIA 25-268 produced the text messages, the memos, and a $1,423.84 fee quote — but almost none of the investigative file.
Case Watch
Active case watch
21-25000669-01 · June 6, 2025
In August 2025 the Delta County Prosecutor’s Office issued a press release to correct a television news story about a guilty plea. The release said a June 6, 2025 interaction produced 1.7 grams of ketamine. FOIA 25-199 then produced the charging complaint for that same interaction, which alleges ketamine possession without alleging any quantity at all — alongside the office’s own February 2025 press release, which recorded 1.950 grams of ketamine from a different stop four months earlier. The same response granted part of the request, granted the same part again subject to redaction, and then certified it nonexistent, all in one letter.