Hank Winchester, an Emmy-winning Detroit television reporter and co-host of “The Morning After” podcast with Kelly Stafford, opened up about being cleared in a law enforcement investigation that stemmed from allegations that he made unwanted sexual advances to a man during a massage in June.
Winchester, who had been away from the podcast since allegations became public, returned to “The Morning After” podcast Monday, and recalled taking polygraph tests and explained that it was an “emotionally exhausting process” amid a “very detailed” investigation.
“There was an allegation that was made against me by someone and police have a responsibility in these situations to investigate allegations,” said Winchester, whose Beverly Hills home was searched by police executing a search warrant related to the investigation on June 13. “But they should also take the time to investigate the person making the allegations. It is kind of one of the lessons I’ve learned in all of this. And as a result of some action that was taken by the local law enforcement, there was a local media report that was done by one station in particular and that really kind of spread like wildfire.”
Winchester — who was placed on administrative leave with Local 4 News, Detroit’s NBC affiliate — did not name the local news report.
Fox2 Detroit, which was among other local news outlets that reported the allegations, said at the time that Winchester studied massage therapy recently. It’s unclear if he was the one being massaged or serving as the masseuse.
“As a result it led to a very detailed and necessary investigation,” Winchester said. “I say necessary because if it’s going to happen, I want to know that investigators had every opportunity to look at everything they needed to, which they did, and determine that in this case that allegation was unfounded, it was baseless, it was defamatory. And that was the opportunity now for my attorneys to come out… but I’m very thankful for that. And I’m very thankful to be on the other side of this. One-hundred percent clear. No charges. The evidence spoke for itself.
“But I will tell you it was an emotionally exhausting process as my attorneys revealed. I took two polygraph tests and passed them with flying colors and there was no detection of any deception. And I did that voluntarily because it was important for me to make sure the investigators had everything they needed. That’s pretty much all I can say about it… It just essentially comes down to not me saying thank you.”
Winchester is married to Oakland County Circuit Judge Jacob Cunningham, with whom he shares a 7-year-old daughter, Emma.
“This was the worst nine weeks of my entire life,” he said. “And I’ve lost both my parents, I’ve had testicular cancer, I’ve gone through a divorce. I’ve had s–t. Nothing compared to this because every aspect of your life is touched.”
Kelly, who is the wife of Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, recalled being worried about Winchester during the investigation.
“I do hope you felt how much you’re cared about and loved because you are and it’s because of the person you are Hank,” Kelly said. “…It was honestly hard because for a minute there I felt like I couldn’t get a hold of you… I’m so f–king glad right now. I knew this was going to be the end result but damn did it take awhile to get here but aren’t we glad that it’s finally f–king here. I don’t want to bite my tongue or get in trouble by saying too much. I’ll let you take over.”
Todd Flood and Neil Rockind, attorneys for Winchester said in a press conference on Friday that their client was the victim of allegations that spread internationally after one TV station published a story, according to the Detroit Free Press.
Winchester, who was not present at the press conference, released a statement on his social media.
It’s unclear if Winchester is still on administrative leave with Local 4 News.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
