Texts used in Warren cops sexual misconduct hearing

Transcripts of text messages helped refresh a teenage girl’s memory as she testified Wednesday in the case of a former Warren police officer charged with sexual misconduct. The 16-year-old girl was led through some 308 pages of transcripts of text messages from her cell phone, many of them involving the 62-year-old man with whom she said she had consensual sex. Dale Wayne Malesh, of Roseville, faces 10 counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in Roseville. At the start of Malesh’s preliminary exam Wednesday in 39th District Court, the girl said she met Malesh while he still was a Warren police officer assigned as a school resource officer in the Warren Woods Public Schools.The teen — whose name is not being published by The Macomb Daily — testified before Judge Marco Santia that Malesh began helping her after she was bullied at Warren Woods Middle School. That help continued at Warren Woods-Tower High School, where she recently completed her junior year. The girl said she and Malesh became friends, and that she sent him a picture in June 2012 that included her, other students and Malesh.She said he asked her to send another photo, so she provided a picture of herself at homecoming last October.The teen testified that her relationship with Malesh turned sexual last December. She said they “sexted” or spoke daily and that she listed him in her phone as “My QT.”Directed by Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Nicole Blank through the transcripts, the Warren girl confirmed 10 dates between last December and March in which she claimed she had intercourse with Malesh at his Roseville home or at a local motel.The preliminary exam — a probable-cause hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for a defendant to stand trial ¬— was adjourned until July 24, when the principal of Warren Woods-Tower High School and a teacher are scheduled to testify.The Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office filed the Roseville charges against Malesh in June, after he was bound over to Macomb County Circuit Court on four counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in Warren. The offense is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The age of consent in Michigan is 16. Prosecutors have based their case against Malesh on a section of the state’s criminal sexual conduct laws that prohibits a person from using his or her role as a contractual service provider or non-student volunteer to gain access to, or establish a relationship with, minors between ages 16 and 18 for sexual purposes.Malesh remains in the Macomb County Jail on bonds totaling $650,000.As a Warren police officer, he was assigned to the Warren Woods Public Schools as the district’s school resource officer. Known to employees and students as “Officer Dale” and “O.D.,” he held that post from September 1999 until his retirement from the force in January 2011. School officials then hired him as security officer, in which he no longer had the power to make arrests. Malesh continued in that job until June 2012.