Michigan corrections investigator's double life as prostitution ringleader exposed

Police seized confidential state files, found in a motel room mixed with a menu listing prices for various sex acts, when they busted a Corrections Department internal affairs investigator for running a prostitution racket, records the Free Press obtained under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act show.

Michigan State Police arrested Scott Matthew Fink, who has pleaded guilty to prostitution-related charges and awaits sentencing in Livingston County Circuit Court Sept. 21, inside a Hartland Township motel in Livingston County on May 19, which was a Friday. Police saw Fink, 44, and an East Lansing woman arrive separately at the hotel that morning, where Fink rented two adjoining rooms, and where police saw a series of suspected "johns" enter one of the rooms and stay for about an hour each before leaving.

Police arrested Fink and the woman at about 4 p.m. after she offered an undercover police officer a naked massage and oral sex in return for $800 in cash.

The Free Press is not naming the woman, now 36, who does not appear to have been charged with a crime.

Fink and the woman had also advertised online for "dates" with her all day Wednesday, May 17 and Thursday, May 18, though the woman canceled her Thursday dates because she said she was not feeling well, records show.

Kyle Kaminski, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections, would not say whether Fink had booked those three days as vacation or other leave days, or whether Fink, whose job was to investigate suspected wrongdoing by other Corrections Department employees, was expected to be working those days.

Although Fink resigned from the department shortly after his arrest, a Corrections Department investigation into possible work rule violations by Fink is ongoing and the department "cannot comment on an ongoing investigation," he said.

But Fink, who through his lawyer Spencer Bondy declined to comment for this story, had records from his state job with him at the hotel when he was arrested, according to incident reports and search warrant records compiled by the MSP.

Police seized $4,500 in cash and found used condoms in both motel rooms, records show.

Fink's backpack was among the items seized in one of the hotel rooms.

"Within the backpack I located a black in color leather binder," one of the officers wrote. Inside the binder, he found "administrative manifest(s), note pads with handwritten notes," and "individual case files for internal affairs investigations," one of the officers wrote in a report. In the same stack of documents, the officer found a folder containing "menus for sexual acts," he wrote.

The Michigan Department of Corrections considers internal affairs files to be confidential personnel records and has in the past refused requests from the Free Press to release them under Michigan's FOIA.

Both Fink and the woman told police in interviews that they were dating and the activities at the motel evolved from their "swinger lifestyle," initiated by Fink. They advertise only the erotic massages, although the woman was not a licensed masseuse, and, despite the price lists that police found, payments for sex acts that clients agreed to came in the form of donations, police said.

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Police seized a video baby monitor and cameras and among the charges Fink pleaded guilty to is "surveilling an unclothed person," which is a two-year felony. Fink told police he was there to provide security and that he and the woman have an open relationship and he "likes being a voyeur in this situation."

Fink also pleaded guilty Aug. 11 to transporting a woman for the purposes of prostitution and accepting earnings from prostitution, which are both 20-year felonies, using a computer to commit a crime, which is a five-year felony, plus a misdemeanor charge of aiding and abetting.

It appears Fink's involvement in prostitution had been ongoing for several months.

Fink's wife, from whom he is now estranged, hired a private detective and went to Milford police Feb. 27 after looking in Fink's backpack and finding "a list of hotels, women's names, client names, and a menu for sex acts," according to the police reports. Milford turned the investigation over to the MSP.

Investigators found Internet ads for massage services posted by Fink going back to December 2022, the reports say. The woman told police she met Fink through social media in August or September of 2022, that she loves him, and that he serves as a father figure to her children, according to the police reports.

"The MDOC was not aware of this former employee’s nonwork conduct until being notified of his arrest," Kaminski said. "Immediately upon receiving that information, the department placed Scott Fink on unpaid suspension and initiated its own investigation."

Kaminski said the department "is confident that investigations recently completed by this investigator were completed consistent with MDOC standards, but a review of some recent cases has been initiated to ensure they are consistent with MDOC investigatory practices and were not impacted by his nonwork conduct."

Fink, who worked for a state agency in which both prisoners and employees have alleged they have been subjected to racism, ran a prostitution operation in which Black people and those who looked "Middle Eastern" or "unkempt" were not accepted as clients, records show. Prospective clients had to send photos of themselves to finalize a "date," records show.

Fink "knows her type and knows she will be attracted to the men he sets up dates with," an investigator wrote after interviewing the woman.

"Additionally, she will not cater to African Americans, Middle Eastern clients, or clients who look unkempt."

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: State worker Scott Fink had secret Michigan files in prostitution bust