False CPS report separates Buttigieg from twins overnight in Traverse City

A false Child Protective Services report sent Michigan State Police to Pete Buttigieg’s Traverse City home and separated him from his 4-year-old twins for 24 hours while investigators ordered forensic interviews. Buttigieg said the anonymous caller claimed to have met him at a conference in Alabama years earlier and accused him of “unspeakable violent crimes,” while claiming his children were still at risk.

The former U.S. transportation secretary said the twins, Penelope and Gus, were placed with their grandparents during the investigation. He said he and his husband, Chasten Buttigieg, were not allowed contact with the children while authorities checked the claim, and he described the episode as “the ugliest thing” that has happened to him since he entered public service. “For twenty-four deeply distressing hours, we had no idea what I was accused of or what was about to happen,” he wrote in a June 26 post on Substack.

Michigan State Police confirmed the report was false and said it appeared to be politically motivated. State police spokesperson Shannon Banner said false reports divert officers and CPS workers from legitimate emergencies. Buttigieg said the case would take longer to formally close even after police determined the report was baseless.

Buttigieg said he planned to pursue civil or criminal charges if possible. He compared the hoax to swatting, a tactic that uses a fake emergency to trigger an aggressive official response. State police did not refer the case to prosecutors, and the complaint did not hold up under investigation.