Rebekah Chatfield has come forward as the sister-in-law who is accusing former Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield of sexually assaulting her, starting when she was underage and continuing into her marriage to his younger brother, Aaron Chatfield.
A review by Heavy of her social media posts shows that she touted Republican Lee Chatfield’s campaign during the time frame she says he was assaulting her. She also frequently wrote about her admiration for her husband, Aaron, and tweeted positive comments toward Lee Chatfield’s wife, Stephanie, including about the birth of some of Stephanie and Lee’s children, whom she babysat. You can read some of those tweets later in this article.
Lee Chatfield denies the accusations; he admits to an affair but says it was consensual and occurred after Rebekah Chatfield, who is married to his brother, turned 18, according to MLive. She says it started when she was 15 or 16 and was unwanted.
Rebekah Chatfield first revealed her identity to the site Bridge Michigan.
“Chatfield’s sister-in-law has filed a criminal complaint against him with the Lansing Police Department for allegedly sexually assaulting her beginning when she was a teenager attending his church and the associated Christian school,” Lansing Pulse reported.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Lee Chatfield Is Accused of Abusing Rebekah Starting at Age 15 or 16 & Including on Her Wedding Night
TwitterRebekah and Aaron Chatfield.
Lee Chatfield confessed to having extramarital affairs during his marriage to Stephanie Chatfield through a statement provided by his attorney Mary Chartier to MLive.
The statement said the affairs were “including a sexual relationship with the woman who is now claiming she was raped.” That woman is Rebekah Chatfield.
“Their affair lasted for years, but they were both consenting adults,” the statement read, according to MLive. “Mr. Chatfield deeply regrets the decisions he has made…But he did not assault this woman in any manner during their years-long adult relationship. He intends to vigorously fight these false claims.”
According to The Detroit News, Rebekah’s lawyer alleges that “the sexual abuse began when she was 15,” which would be a crime and claims that Chatfield “manipulated” the woman through the Chatfields’ Michigan Baptist church, where patriarch Rusty Chatfield is a pastor.
Rebekah’s lawyer accused Chatfield of continuing the “abuse” when Rebekah was an adult, even on her wedding night, The Detroit News reported. She is now 26 years old.
2. Rebekah Told Bridge Michigan That Lee Chatfield ‘Destroyed Me’
Rebekah and Aaron Chatfield. Twitter
Rebekah came forward publicly to the news site Bridge Michigan in a series of interviews.
“He destroyed me, and has controlled my life since I was 15-16, the past 10-11 years,” she said to the site of Lee Chatfield. “And I know the only way to get justice for this is to come forward and to file a criminal (complaint) against him.”
She told the site that Lee Chatfield started initiating what Bridge Michigan described as “unwanted sexual contact” with her when she was 15 or 16-years-old and a student at Northern Michigan Christian Academy, which is where Chatfield’s father has a church and where Lee Chatfield once taught and coached soccer.
She told the site that Lee continued to assault her after the Chatfield family pressured her to marry Lee’s youngest brother, Aaron Chatfield, at age 19.
She did not keep a diary, texts of other evidence to back up the claims and was ashamed to tell anyone but finally told Aaron, her mother and others in December “after the emotional trauma became unbearable,” going to Lansing Police, according to the site.
3. Rebekah Tweeted About Lee Chatfield During the Years She Says the Alleged Abuse Occurred
Rebekah was active on Twitter from 2012-2015, which spans the years she was age 17 and 20.
In 2014, she wrote on Twitter, “Praying that Lee Chatfield will be elected today and that everyone will go out and vote! #leechatfieldforstaterep.”
That was one of several posts in which she touted Chatfield’s campaign on Twitter. She wrote in 2014, “Tomorrow is primary elections! Please make this last day count and encourage everyone you know to vote!@LeeChatfield.”
She also posted photos with Chatfield’s wife and baby, writing in 2014, “Great way to spend my birthday! So happy for Steph and I’m in love with my soon to be niece!! #babygirl Ribbon.”
TwitterRebekah Chatfield with Lee Chatfield’s wife and baby.
In 2013, she tagged Lee Chatfield’s wife in a tweet, writing, “Going through pictures and this is one of my favorite of me and Noah! Really missing babysitting! @steph_chatfield.”
Rebekah is also on Facebook, but there aren’t any posts visible there. Her Instagram page is private. Her Facebook page describes her as “▪️on a mission to help spread love & light▪️hair/skin influencer for monat.”
In 2013, Rebekah posted a photo on Twitter, writing, “Aaron’s awesome sunglasses, this cutie, and @LeeChatfield hiding behind us. #4thofJuly Flag of United States @ADChatfield2.”
In 2013, Rebekah tweeted at Lee’s wife, writing, “Shout out to @steph_chatfield for helping plan my open house! I’m SO thankful and you don’t know how much I appreciate you! #youreawesome:)” She followed that with a tweet at Lee Chatfield, writing, “And to @LeeChatfield for helping with the grill!!”
In 2012, she tweeted, “Happy Thanksgiving! I’m so thankful for all the people God has put in my life and I can find true happiness in him! #soblessed,” adding in another tweet, “And especially thankful for @AaronChatfield2 @LeeChatfield2 @Steph_Chatfield! #makemylifegreat #HappyThanksgiving.”
She wrote that she loved Aaron Chatfield in one post. She tweeted that post as far back as September 2012, when she would have been 17 years old.
Rebekah replied to tweets by Lee Chatfield, but it’s not clear what they said because his page is deleted.
The first post on the page came in May 2012. The first tweet mentioning Lee Chatfield was a photo of a baby; she tweeted the picture at him writing, on July 5, 2012, “Proud fan of 4th of July. @LeeChat02.” She hasn’t tweeted since 2015.
4. Rebekah Had a Troubled Childhood, Which She Says Left Her Vulnerable But Admitted Initiating Some Encounters With Lee Chatfield, Reports Say
Rebekah told the Bridge Michigan site that she had a troubled upbringing. She babysat for Lee Chatfield’s children. Her father was a recovering alcoholic and her parents went through a divorce so she believed that Lee used her vulnerability against her.
It escalated from “unwanted touches” to “unwanted sex,” according to Bridge Michigan, citing what Rebekah said during interviews.
Rebekah was born Rebekah Leonard. Her family joined Chatfield’s church when she was in the fourth grade, Bridge Michigan reported.
Rebekah said Lee taught her in classes. and she was on the soccer team he coached. Her two younger brothers also enrolled in the school connected to the church, Northern Michigan Christian Academy, the site reported.
“They preach at the pulpit that the men are always right, the women have no say,” she said to Bridge Michigan.
Rebekah’s mother Debbie Newbury told Bridge Michigan that she eventually pulled her children out of the school because the school provided “intensely conservative and patriarchal teachings.”
Rebekah told Bridge Michigan that she initiated the sexual contact at times but said, it “was never consensual, because it started when I was a minor — the brainwashing, the mentality, the manipulation, the psychological, the emotional — he groomed me into being who he wanted me to be.”
Rebekah’s LinkedIn page says she has worked at a clothing store. She had a TikTok page, but it’s deleted.
Her Twitter page shows a photo of her with her husband Aaron Chatfield and the phrase, “Christian • Wife • Sister • Friend.”
5. Lee Chatfield’s Brother Defended His Wife Rebekah, But His Father Labeled the Allegations ‘False’
Rebekah Chatfield’s husband Aaron Chatfield is one of Pastor Rusty Chatfield’s seven children. She repeatedly wrote loving posts about Aaron on Twitter. In June 2014, Rebekah tweeted, “40 days until I marry my best friend!! I don’t even know how to begin describing how thankful I am for him. #crazysoon #weddingcountdown.”
Aaron Chatfield told Bridge Michigan that his brother lacked moral boundaries, and that he had taken Lee to strip clubs or “evening rendezvous with various women” both inside and outside government.
“Lee portrays himself as a family tradition, conservative guy who believes in the Bible and the Bible is so important,” said Aaron, 26. “No, it couldn’t be further from who my man was as a person.”
But another brother, Paul Chatfield, “questioned” Rebekah’s timeline to Bridge Michigan and said he wanted to see the results of the police investigation before commenting further.
“What she is saying, I don’t believe,” Paul Chatfield said. He added that “the best-case scenario is, I’m disappointed” in Lee. He told the site he didn’t believe the sexual contact began as early as she said it had.
According to Bridge Michigan, Rusty Chatfield, the father of both Lee and Aaron, told the news site that “the allegations are false.”
FacebookStephanie Chatfield with her children
Lee Chatfield’s former House bio says that wife Stephanie was his high school sweetheart.
“Lee was born and raised in Northern Michigan and is a high school graduate of Northern Michigan Christian Academy. He married his high school sweetheart Stephanie in 2008 and they live in Levering with their five children—four sons and a daughter,” it reads.
In 2019, the Michigan House of Representatives wrote of the Chatfields, “Speaker Lee Chatfield and his wife Stephanie stand with their children in the speaker’s office tonight prior to the State of the State address.”
The bio says that Lee Chatfield was the “youngest Speaker in Michigan history in more than 100 years, and currently the youngest serving in the country. He was first elected to serve the 107th District in the Michigan House of Representatives in November 2014.”
He is the son of a church pastor, Rusty Chatfield, according to Bridge Michigan. “He grew up steeped in faith, service and small-government philosophy — which would become fundamental to his job this year leading a Republican-dominated chamber, a time when little gets done without the agreement of a Democratic governor,” the site reported.
The site reported that Lee and Stephanie “married before graduating college and had three children by the time Chatfield was 26.”
According to the statement his lawyer gave the Detroit News, the Chatfields are “working through this together.”
“Mr. Chatfield deeply regrets the decisions he has made,” Chartier said in the statement. “It has caused great pain to his wife and family, and they are working through this together. But he did not assault this woman in any manner during their years-long adult relationship. He intends to vigorously fight these false claims.”
The House bio continues, “Lee and his family are active members in their local church and he serves his community in various ways. He is a member of Right to Life of Michigan, National Rifle Association, Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners and Michigan Farm Bureau. Lee has coached several community teams and hosts summer sports camps for his high school and local athletic associations.”
It adds, “Lee served as a full-time high school teacher, coach and athletic director at his alma mater, Northern Michigan Christian Academy in Burt Lake.”
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