A newly elected 23-year-old city commissioner in Michigan resigned Wednesday after being charged with “possessing child sexually abusive material” – a series of graphic videos showing “male individuals using a urinal,” he acknowledged on social media.
Devin Stevens, who was elected to the Adrian City Commission last month, pleaded not guilty to the felony charge and is due back in court on Dec. 21. If convicted, he faces up to four years in prison and must register as a sex offender, The Daily Telegram reported.
Lenawee County Prosecutor Burke Castleberry told the newspaper they started probing Stevens in October after a tip — eventually leading to a search warrant executed at Stevens’ home, during which his electronic devices were seized, Castleberry said.
“The investigation is ongoing and I do expect further arrests,” he told the newspaper, adding that the illicit material was contained in one video.
Stevens addressed the allegations in a lengthy post on Facebook and Twitter, acknowledging that he had communicated with someone he “believed to be of legal age” prior to taking office.

“I later learned that this individual had falsified this information and was in fact seventeen years old,” Stevens wrote. “During the course of our exchange, this individual sent me a series of graphic videos showing male individuals using a urinal. While I could tell that these videos were clearly taken without consent, I never imagined that the individual behind them would then reveal to me that one of the individuals shown was a minor. After learning this fact, my communication with the individual behind the videos ended.”
Stevens said he never shared the videos with anyone, eventually deleting them, but acknowledged that he erred by not contacting police.
“Days later this individual was caught attempting to take an additional video, this time of an adult, and when questioned by authorities this individual revealed that he had previously sent videos of similar content to me,” Stevens’ post continued. “This was the beginning of what has become a very trying time in my life, two months that have consisted of incredible regret, disappointment, embarrassment, and uncertainty.”
Stevens then apologized to victims who “were exploited by a clearly troubled individual” and the entirety of Madison Township, as well as his family for his “lapse in judgment.” Stevens said he divulged details of the case because the public deserved the truth.
“I have always been honest with the people of this city, perhaps too honest, about my life as a young, single, gay man, and I have no regrets about that,” Stevens wrote. “I am comfortable with and confident in who I am as a person and will continue to live my life true to who I am.”
The age of consent in Michigan is 16, according to MLive.com, but it’s illegal in the state to possess explicit images of people under age 18. The principal of Madison High School confirmed to the website that school officials had alerted police to an incident involving a student. Superintendent Ryan Rowe declined to elaborate, referring questions to police.
Stevens, according to his website, was the youngest and first openly gay person to be elected to the Adrian City Commission. He first got involved in politics when he was just 13. He finished second in last month’s election among six city commission candidates vying for three open seats, The Daily Telegram reports.