Repeat Sex Offender Running for Sheriff in Bay County, MI

A repeat sex offender is one of the candidates in the running to become Bay County Sheriff, because sometimes it takes a crook to catch a crook? 

It's tough for us to give Bay County too much grief over this, as Flint has elected both a convicted murderer, and local sideshow Eric Mays to our city council. Bay County hasn't even held their elections yet, and the sex offender and repeat felon is only a write-in candidate.

The man we're talking about is 52-year-old  Kenneth J. Zolnierek, who has a lengthy rap sheet that includes at least eight felony convictions, three of which were sexual in nature.

According to MLive, Zolnierek claims that two of the charges stemmed from a 1994 incident where he was drunkenly urinating outside of a bar in Alpena, and said something lewd to a woman in front of her children. He claims to have stopped drinking, and wants to try to "better [himself] and the community."

It's almost inhuman to believe that people are incapable of changing or bettering themselves, and we all probably know someone that did something they're not proud of while drinking. However, even if you blame the 1994 incident on substance abuse -- you still have the 2008 incident, where Zolnierek pleaded no contest to one count of distributing or promoting child sexually abusive material.

Those charges came about when Zolnierek caught the attention of Bay County authorities for suspicious behavior. A woman noticed him trying to get teenagers to pose with his truck, which caused police to get a search warrant.  They found a photo of him grabbing a 16-year-old's breast, and his then 17-year-old girlfriend also gave authorities photos of the couple having sex. There were also photos of her and a younger girl engaged in sexual activity. After pleading no contest, he served 34 months in prison. He was discharged in August of 2015.

Add to those some illegal driving charges, and assorted fraud charges, and you've got what looks much more like the resume of a career criminal than it does a county sheriff's. Zolnierek isn't letting that stop him though, and says "I'm for a better change, to try to better the community, to make everybody equal, to make everybody feel that they're equal and they're treated equal."

Under Michigan law, it is not illegal for felons to run for office unless their crimes in the last 20 years fall under the umbrella of violating the public trust. While he does have some charges that are considered violations, they fall outside of the 20-year window... because America.

So if second chances (or, more accurately -- ninth chances) are your thing and you're a registered voter in Bay County, you can vote for Zolnierek in the August 8th primary. For more information, be on the lookout for his campaign vehicle.