Washtenaw County Sheriff Appoints Former Romantic Partner to Head HR and Training

4/8/25: Updated with a comment from Sheriff Alyshia Dyer.

by P.D. Lesko

Sheriff Alyshia Dyer appointed Jeremiah Richardson as her Dept.’s HR and training manager. Richardson and Dyer were romantic partners, as well as patrol partners. Richardson’s Michigan State Police Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (MCOLES) employment records show that on May 9, 2024, Undersheriff Mark A. Ptaszek sent a letter to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards which was a “Correction – Reason for Separation of Employment.” In that letter, Ptaszek wrote that Deputy Sheriff Jeremiah Richardson resigned on December 10, 2022. At the time, Richardson “was under investigation. The likely outcome would have resulted in terminating his employment as a matter of progressive corrective disciplinary action.” Nonetheless, Alyshia Dyer appointed her former boyfriend Richardson to recruit employees and train them.

According to an elected official in Ypsilanti Twp., a recent recruit to work as a Sheriff’s corrections officer was Ardis Lewis, Jr. A background check was being done on Lewis, a former nightclub owner in Ypsilanti Twp., and the City of Wayne. Due to the number of shootings and other calls to report illegal activities at Lewis’s Ypsilanti Twp. Men Like Us club, township officials sued and shut Lewis down. He moved his club across the county line into Wayne County in the small city of Wayne.

Washtenaw County Circuit Court records show that in 2013, rather than pay child support, Ardis Lews, Jr. skipped town. He was eventually required to pay $14,365 in past child support payments.

Wayne City Manager, Diane Webb, a former Wayne County Commissioner, fielded complaints from Lewis’s residential neighbors who said that the renamed “Plus One Lounge” was creating noise well into the early morning hours. Webb said she discovered Lewis was serving drinks and food without proper permits and licenses.

Currently, the Washtenaw County Council Sheriff’s Dept. has around 90 deputies, down from 140 in 2009.

It’s unclear how Jeremiah Richardson passed the Sheriff’s background check after having resigned while under an investigation that would have resulted in his dismissal.

Jeremiah Richardson was asked in an email to comment on the nature of the “corrective disciplinary action,” referred to in Ptaszek’s letter to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards. He has not yet replied.

A source within the Sheriff’s Dept. says Jeremiah Richardson’s patrol car was stolen by a suspect whom Richardson had detained in the back seat of the car.

The Sheriff’s Facebook page has a post dated Feb. 7, 2025 in which it was announced Richardson and other HR Dept. workers had been awarded letters of commendation by Dyer. “You all exemplify the values of our new administration,” the Facebook post says.

The comments in response to the post include pointed criticisms of Richardson and Dyer’s hiring of him: “I would think a Sheriff with integrity wouldn’t just place their friends/former romantic partners in top roles – especially since HR is a very serious role, that could potentially cause legal issues if managed incorrectly……”

A second commenter wrote, “Why would Dyer think it was a good idea to bring back an employee that was booted, and make them the head of a department they have no experience in? Could it possibly be due to their (former) relationship?”

On her campaign Facebook page, on June 3, 2024, Dyer highlighted Jeremiah Richardson as a special supporter. In the Facebook page post, Dyer did not mention Richardson was a romantic partner, but rather that “I met Richardson in the police academy many moons ago, and on patrol together at the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office, we went through so much. From losing young people we cared about, to challenging the ways our legal system operated, he was someone who always had my back….”

After the Sheriff’s Dept. had apprised MCOLES that Richardson had resigned while under investigation for “progressive corrective disciplinary action” that would have led to his firing, Dyer told her supporters, “Richardson served our community with integrity.”

Richardson completed a four-month law enforcement officer training course on December 17, 2011 from Washtenaw Community College. On Nov. 29, 2011, Richardson was given a “Spirit Award” for attending an extra class. He passed all of his law enforcement training courses with an average score of 90.

Richardson’s MCOLES records include his undergraduate and graduate school transcripts from Eastern Michigan University.

As an undergraduate, Richardson failed multiple courses and passed others with a D or D+. He earned a D+ in a Criminology Course (his major), but earned an A- in his Senior Seminar in Criminology. Richardson earned an A in bowling and failed Introduction to Logic. Similarly, he earned an A in Lifetime Wellness, but failed Criminal Science 354, an overview of Juvenile Delinquency. EMU records show after five years, Jeremiah Richardson finished his undergraduate degree in Criminology with a 2.77 GPA.

To be admitted to graduate school at Eastern Michigan University, a 2.7 GPA is the baseline requirement. To graduate from EMU with a Master’s Degree, a minimum, cumulative 3.0 GPA is required. Richardson, whose graduate school GPA decreased from 3.46 to 2.43 as he went through the program, graduated with 36 GPA hours (30 are needed for a Master’s Degree) and an overall 3.05 GPA, with an E in Accounting Principles.

Richardson’s isn’t the only controversial hire Dyer has made. As her assistant she hired Spencer “Alex” Thomas, a campaign supporter. In 2024, Thomas ran unsuccessfully for Ypsilanti Twp. Supervisor against incumbent Brenda Stumbo. Thomas, a housing advocate with experience teaching English as a Second Language in China, is the “assistant to the Sheriff.” Thomas has no law enforcement experience or training. His 2024 candidate campaign committee has been repeatedly reported to the Michigan Attorney General for finance violations.

Most recently, Thomas was reported by County Clerk Lawrence Kestenbaum to the Michigan AG for failing to file “statements, reports or corrections as required by law.”

Between August 18, 2023 and February 25, 2025, Dyer’s assistant has been referred to Michigan AG Dana Nessel for prosecution three times by County Clerk Kestenbaum. In Jan. 2025, after the newspaper contacted Dyer, Thomas paid a $500 campaign finance fine.

County Clerk Larry Kestenbaum sent the Sheriff-elect a Failure to File letter dated Dec. 6, 2024. The newspaper alerted Dyer, and the next day she paid her $25 fine and submitted the 11-page report.

Sheriff Dyer, who ran on a platform of rooting out cronyism and corruption in the Sheriff’s Dept., was asked in an email if she has hired any of her other romantic partners into the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Dept. The Sheriff sent a comment in which she asserted: “In my opinion, his [Richardson’s] investigation was retaliation for his political connection to me. The former administration made it abundantly clear that people weren’t allowed to speak with me. He ultimately resigned due to the tension surrounding my run for this seat, despite being one of the most hardworking and dedicated employees at the office.”

MCOLES records show Jeremiah Richardson resigned on Dec. 10, 2022 from the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office while under investigation. Alyshia Dyer ran for County Sheriff in 2024.