Undersheriff charged in alleged assault

By ART BUKOWSKI
abukowski@record-eagle.com

July 09, 2008 12:00 am

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TRAVERSE CITY -- A prosecutor charged Kalkaska County's undersheriff with a crime for an alleged assault that left his teen stepson cut and scratched.

Bruce Gualtiere, 51, Kalkaska's undersheriff since 2005 and a member of the department since 1980, is accused of misdemeanor domestic violence following a June 28 incident at his residence in Grand Traverse County's Whitewater Township.

Grand Traverse Prosecutor Alan Schneider charged Gualtiere on Tuesday. The domestic violence count carries up to 93 days in jail. He was expected to be arraigned today.

Kalkaska Sheriff Bill Artress suspended Gualtiere with pay the day after the incident. Gualtiere will continue on paid leave pending the outcome of criminal proceedings, Artress said.

"We've got to remind people that he's innocent until proven guilty and not guilty until proven innocent," Artress said.

Gualtiere's 17-year-old stepson told Michigan State Police that Gualtiere grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him into a garage door, according to a police report. Gualtiere allegedly hit his stepson in the stomach and tried to knee him in the chest as the two wrestled.

Jan Gualtiere, the stepson's mother and Gualtiere's wife, eventually got between the two and broke up the altercation, the report said. The stepson sustained scratches to his neck, chin, palm and stomach, according to the report, and Gualtiere said he was sore from a blow to the forehead.

In January, the stepson was expelled after he took a knife to Kalkaska High School. Jan Gualtiere, an administrative assistant at the Sheriff's Department, eventually was suspended for her role in hiding the incident from her superiors.

Police reports indicate the June 28 fight began as the stepson and Gualtiere discussed the knife incident. The stepson doesn't live with the Gualtieres, and Bruce Gualtiere allegedly told the stepson to leave his home shortly before the alleged assault, the report said.

Artress faces competition in the August primary in his reelection bid. He won't make any decisions about Gualtiere's status as his undersheriff until the criminal case is wrapped, he said.

"I'm trying to keep the political re-election separate from this," he said. "Let's let the system work, and the system will decide the right outcome, and I'll decide where to go from there."