(Indiana House of Representatives)
One of Indiana’s highest rankings Republicans has resigned his position a week after apologizing to colleagues for anything “offensive” they received. Officially, former Majority Floor Leader Jud McMillin, 38, said that he’s resigning because he wishes to spend more time with his family. Less than 48 hours after his resignation, it emerged that some of McMillin’s colleagues had received a “sex video” from his phone a week previous.
The former prosecutor was first elected to Indiana’s House of Representatives in 2010, defeating 30-year incumbent Robert Bischoff.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. He Told His Colleagues Via Text That They Should ‘Disregard Any Messages You Received Recently’
(Twitter)
The second highest ranking Republican in Indiana told a legislative session on September 28 that he was resigning so that he could “spend more time with his family,” reports Fox Indianapolis. The bombshell came in the midst of a debate on the state’s school. A week previous to this, McMillin had texted his colleagues saying “My phone was stolen in Canada and out of my control for about 24 hours. I have just been able to reactivate it under my control. Please disregard any messages you received recently. I am truly sorry for anything offensive you may have received.” The Indianapolis Business Journal, quoting sources, reports that the “offensive” material was a sexually explicit video.
Since November 2014, he had been serving as the majority leader having been elected in 2010. McMillin served a rural southern district of Indiana. A statement from the House Speaker in Indiana, Brian Bosma, said:
Our caucus is thankful for Representative McMillin’s service to our state, and we fully support his decision to step down in order to focus on his family.
A replacement for McMillin is likely to be named in the coming days. The Indianapolis Star, in their report on the resignation, had referred to him as a “rising star in the state’s Republican party.” In a statement to that paper, McMillin said that “Now I want to focus all of my attention on making my family’s world a better place.”
2. While He Was a Prosecutor, McMillin Was Removed From a Case After He Had Sex With & Texted a Domestic Abuse Victim ‘Sexual Photographs’
McMillin attained a law degree from the University of Mississippi having got his undergraduate in his native Cincinnati, according to his official profile. From there, he went to work as a deputy prosecutor in Dayton, Ohio. His career there ended when he was accused by a woman, Crystal Stapleton, of legal malpractice, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and breach of fiduciary duty in 2005. In documents she filed, Stapleton said that she had a sexual relationship with McMillin during the case where he spoke of them building a life together while also trying to convince her to testify in open court against her former boyfriend, John Gonzalez. She also said that McMillin had texted her sexual photos, which she reciprocated. The suit was later withdrawn for an unknown reason with McMillin maintaining that he had only gotten involved with Stapleton after he had been taken off the case.
3. He Was Kicked Out of Ball University After He Was Accused of Stealing From His Baseball Team Mates
In an unflattering profile by Bilerico, it says that prior to attending the University of Cincinnati, McMillin had been a student at Ball State University. During his time there, he had been on the school’s baseball team. He left the school in his freshman year, 1996, after his team mates accused him of stealing money from them. There’s no mention of McMillin’s time at Ball State on his official profile.
The Bilerico piece also talks about a time when McMillin was in high school in Franklin County, Indiana, and he was involved in the game of “leap frog.” A game where two drivers try to overtake each other on the open road. During one of these games, the man McMillin was racing against crashed into a car, killing a man, Tom Marsh, his wife, and their unborn baby.
4. McMillin’s 18 Month Old Son Was Accused of Being a Racist by an Indiana Democrat
In another scandal that drew attention to McMillin, his colleague, Democrat Vanessa Summers accused McMillin’s 18-month-old son of being a racist. She told a session of the Indiana House that “I told Jud McMillin I love his son, but he’s scared of me because of my color and that’s horrible…It’s true…He looked at me like I was a monster and turned around and cried. And I told him you need to introduce your child to some people that are dark-skinned so he will not be scared.”
McMillin’s wife, Natasha. (Facebook)
The former state rep defended his son saying “I can tell you that if he reacted the same way he reacts with anybody brand new, he buries his head in his dad’s shoulder. Whoever it is, it’s what he does. He’s an 18-month-old kid; he’s in a new environment up here in the place like the Statehouse but doesn’t know anybody. I honestly don’t remember anything out of the ordinary…It’s just incredibly unfortunate. You’d like to think that we would have professional discussion on the House floor and certainly be able to avoid having 18-month-olds in the discussion.”
McMillin and his wife, Natasha, have two children together, she has two from a previous relationship, their youngest was born in July 2015, according to her Facebook page. She’s a native of Indiana and the couple live in Brookville together.
5. Earlier in 2015, an Indiana Democrat Sent Illicit Messages to Anthony Weiner’s Text-Friend Sidney Leathers
Sidney Leathers. (Twitter)
In March 2015, porn star Sidney Leathers told the world that she had been exchanging explicit messages with Indiana Democrat Justin Moed. Leathers told Fox News that Moed’s messages were ” A million times more shocking [Than the messages she exchanged with Anthony Weiner]. They made Weiner look very tame, vanilla and boring.”