By JAMES MITCHELL
Sunday Times Newspapers
SOUTHGATE — The pending jury trial for a former Southgate police officer charged with sexual abuse is now scheduled to begin in May.
Emmanuel Paravas, 42, will be tried before Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Annette J. Berry beginning May 14. Paravas was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly raping a woman he encountered while on duty in response to a domestic disturbance call.
According to Maria Miller, Wayne County Prosecutor spokeswoman, a scheduling conflict on the part of the court resulted in the postponement of the trial, originally scheduled to begin in December.
In February 2011, Paravas and his partner responded to the La Quinta Hotel on Reek Road, where they intervened in an argument between the woman and her husband.
According to the charges, Paravas returned several hours later to a second hotel where he had taken the woman for safekeeping and sexually assaulted her.
The Pennsylvania woman testified during a preliminary examination in July that she and her husband arrived in Southgate that afternoon, and that she was scheduled to perform as an adult entertainer the next evening. The woman and her husband said during the hearing that she spent much of the afternoon and evening drinking, and did not remember the argument which first brought police to the hotel.
The couple contacted Michigan State Police five days later. In March, Paravas resigned from the Southgate Police department where he had served since 2000.
(James Mitchell can be reached at [email protected])