Residency of State Rep. Kristy Pagan subject of lawsuit by Canton man

A Canton Township man is suing Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett and the Wayne County Elections Commission over what he says is election fraud by State Rep. Kristy Pagan.
He claims she misrepresented her residency in campaign filing documents and votes for her in the Nov. 6 election should not be counted.
Pagan currently is running for reelection to her seat in the 21st district, which includes most of Canton, most of Van Buren Township, and the City of Belleville. She is required to live in her district.
Attorney George Dimitrios Gostias is suing on behalf of Ace Kent Herbert of Canton.
Gostias said Pagan claims to live in an apartment in Canton with her husband Karl Lopata, but she signed paperwork for two years claiming this as her “principal residence” for a Homestead Tax Exemption on a home on Detroit Street in Ann Arbor.
He said Pagan rents an apartment in Canton and owns a $450,000 house purchased in Ann Arbor in 2016. The Homestead Tax Exemptions she received for the past two years amount to about $5,000.
Gostias said she told Channel 4 the Ann Arbor property was a Rbnb, but that property is not listed on any Rbnb sites or as a rental.
“I have never lived in Ann Arbor and I do not live in Ann Arbor,” Pagan told Channel 4 in an Oct. 4 report.
She told them her husband handles the mortgage and he filed the Homestead Exemption by mistake.
Gostias said she claims to live in Canton and if she does, then she is guilty of tax fraud. If she actually lives in Ann Arbor, she is guilty of election fraud.
Gostias said he considers her campaign for office fraudulent and an attempt to deceive voters.
“I’m amazed my opponent, the Republican party, would even challenge me on this,” she said on Channel 4.
Gostias said if the case, filed in circuit court, isn’t addressed before the election, he will amend the complaint to get her thrown out of office if she is elected.
No hearing date on the case had been set as of Tuesday morning by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Columbo, Jr.