A county prosecutor in Indiana has opted not to file criminal charges against a woman who allegedly made a false child welfare complaint against former South Bend mayor and U.S. transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg.
The false claim resulted in police and child welfare investigators going to Buttigieg’s home in Traverse City, Michigan in June. Buttigieg wasn’t allowed to be alone with his two children until forensic interviews could be completed.
Investigators reportedly determined the call came from Marshall County, Indiana. In an email to Indiana State Police investigators in July, Marshall County Prosecutor Nelson Chipman acknowledged that the false report resulted in a “brief but intrusive investigation of an innocent individual and his family.”
But he said he couldn’t conclude that the 50-year-old caller was “capable of forming the requisite intent to support a criminal conviction.” He pointed to her history of alcohol abuse and mental illness, including hallucinations and delusional thinking, "which includes frequently responding to voices only she hears and grandiose ideation including self-identifying as God."
The woman, identified in Chipman's email only by her initials, is from Alabama, but was temporarily staying with family members in Marshall County. Chipman said she had since returned to Alabama and was staying in a halfway house, and may still have easy enough access to a phone and computers to file more complaints.
In a Substack post shortly after the incident took place, Buttigieg said, “I don’t know how much we can do about it, but so help me God, if there is any way to press civil or criminal charges over this, we will.”
In July, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced her own investigation into the incident and the way police handled the complaint.
