{"id":174,"date":"2026-04-07T09:21:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/?p=174"},"modified":"2026-04-07T09:21:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T13:21:51","slug":"silenced-for-speaking-out-how-battle-creek-officials-appears-to-shield-kris-douponce","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/?p=174","title":{"rendered":"\u201cSilenced for Speaking Out: How Battle Creek Officials Appears to Shield Kris Douponce\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Battle Creek Under Scrutiny: HR Retaliation, Financial Ties, and Questionable Leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Autumn Smith, FAFO Justice Investigative Op\/Ed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serious concerns are emerging in Battle Creek City Hall after employees report being called into HR by Michelle Hull and threatened for sharing information about Kris Douponce\u2014an individual reportedly tied to a multi-jurisdictional sextortion investigation.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allegedly, these actions did not originate in HR. Sources claim the directive came from our brand-new City Manager, Amanda Zimmerlin, and City Attorney William Kim\u2014known for his role in the Flint Water Crisis cover-up.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Employees Targeted, Allegations Ignored<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Employees were reportedly confronted not for workplace misconduct, but for sharing publicly available information about a serious public safety issue.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of addressing the allegations themselves, the focus shifted to silencing employees, raising serious questions about priorities, judgment, and ethics in City leadership. Also, this could be deemed inter fearing in an active\/ongoing police investigation, which is illegal. But as us residents all know, those in city hall and with a badge or title usually get away with their criminal activities and in typical City of Battle Creek fashion, get promoted for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Money, Power, and Influence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Douponce is far from an ordinary resident. He is allegedly Aamajor property owner through KVD Properties, controlling multiple rental and commercial properties that generate significant ongoing revenue for the City. A former Michigan State Police detective with longstanding relationships across local law enforcement and court systems<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This combination of financial influence and institutional connections intensifies the perception problem. When allegations surface against someone this connected, the response from leadership matters\u2014and in this case, it appears control took precedence over transparency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Personal Reminder for Amanda Zimmerlin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Amanda, I\u2019ll remind you personally: at the City Manager Meet & Greet at the DoubleTree Downtown, you told me to my face, in response to my question about managing a city and police department under active FBI investigation, that you would cooperate fully, and be honest and transparent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, welcome to the real world of your job. The apparent directive to target City employees for sharing information, combined with your lack of response to my inquiry, shows neither. If these actions are documented, they may now become part of the FBI\u2019s ongoing investigation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Policy, Ethics, and Public Trust<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Battle Creek\u2019s own standards require:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fair and equitable treatment of employees<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ethical use of authority<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Integrity in decision-making<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selective targeting of employees while leaving the underlying criminal allegations unaddressed represents a serious lapse in ethics and leadership, undermining both policy and public trust. This isn\u2019t just about HR or a property owner with influence. It\u2019s about whether: Leadership prioritizes transparency or control, employees can speak on matters of public concern without retaliation & financial influence and personal connections affect how the City responds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until these questions are answered publicly, the perception of cover-ups and double standards will only deepen, and trust in City leadership will continue to erode. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Battle Creek Under Scrutiny: HR Retaliation, Financial Ties, and Questionable Leadership By Autumn Smith, FAFO Justice Investigative Op\/Ed Serious concerns are emerging in Battle Creek City Hall after employees report being called into HR by Michelle Hull and threatened for sharing information about Kris Douponce\u2014an individual reportedly tied to a multi-jurisdictional sextortion investigation. Allegedly, these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=174"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":179,"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174\/revisions\/179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fafojustice.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}