DETROIT — A federal magistrate judge Monday refused to release on bond the former keyboardist for the Detroit rock band Mac Saturn, citing the “extreme danger” he poses to the community in a child pornography case that alleges the musician masturbated online with three minors.
A lawyer for keyboardist Evan Mercer, 30, of Farmington, vowed to appeal after Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge David Grand ordered the musician remain in jail while awaiting trial on charges that could send the rocker to federal prison for up to 30 years.
The detention hearing came three days after court officials unsealed a criminal complaint that overshadowed a release party for the band’s first physical album, “Hard to Sell,” and launch of a 35-city national tour that started in the band’s backyard. Shows scheduled included one Upstate New York stop on Feb. 4 in Albany; the concert has been canceled.
The complaint coincided with Mercer’s arrest hours before Mac Saturn’s headlining show Friday at the Fillmore Detroit. An hour before showtime, band members announced on social media that Mercer was no longer in the band.
Mercer, dressed in an orange Sanilac County Jail uniform and restrained with handcuffs and ankle chains, hung his head and chest-length brown hair Monday as the magistrate judge described case allegations. That included allegations Mercer masturbated with a naked prepubescent girl approximately 7-9 years old, and separately, with two teen boys — ages 14 and 15, respectively — during online video chats on the website, now defunct.
“It is just shocking to see a grown man engage in sexual activity” as alleged by the government, Grand said.
Grand said the circumstances of the crime show how easy it is to victimize minors simply by logging onto the internet. Releasing the musician to live with his parents poses a danger, the magistrate judge said, including to Girl Scouts who might sell cookies door-to-door or minors collecting items for canned food drives.
Mercer proposed being released to live with his parents but the magistrate judge and prosecutor noted that the parents’ home is near schools.
Mercer’s court-appointed lawyer, Mike Rataj, pointed to court officials who reviewed Mercer’s case and recommended a bond with 21 conditions, including house arrest, a GPS tether and no access to electronic devices.
“He is presumed to be innocent, despite what the government says,” Rataj said.
Rataj noted Mercer, a college graduate, has no criminal history and was undergoing counseling since last fall.
“It is important he continue with that,” Rataj said.
The proposed bond conditions, a list longer than Rataj has seen in other cases, would help assure the community is safe, the lawyer said.
“Twenty one conditions,” Rataj said to the magistrate judge while holding up the court staff’s recommendation.
He called the magistrate judge’s Girl Scout cookie comments “piling on.”
“We are going to appeal this,” Rataj said, “believe me.”
Mercer underwent a change in emotion during the detention hearing. He entered the courtroom, smiled at his parents and waited for his case to be heard by chatting and joking with a fellow inmate. Less than an hour later, he was shaking his head and mouthing “love you” to his parents before heading back to jail.
Grand referenced the keyboardist’s stalled music career before sending him back to jail.
“He had a very good thing going ... ,” Grand said.
Mercer has been held since Friday in the Sanilac County Jail, which contracts with the government to detain people facing charges in federal court. The jail is 88 miles north of Detroit.
Unsealed federal court records obtained by The News describe a months-long investigation, a confession and a rocker in a band on the cusp of what could be a national breakthrough who was questioned last fall amid a child pornography investigation involving incriminating screenshots and online video chats.
“Mercer advised the screenshots were of him on an anonymous website ..., masturbating with underage people,” an FBI special agent wrote in the unsealed criminal case.
The investigation involving Ferndale Police and the FBI was sparked last fall by Mercer’s ex-girlfriend discovering screenshots of Mercer masturbating with children on a video chat website, according to the FBI agent. The screenshots were on the woman’s laptop, which was synced with Mercer’s cellphone.
The ex-girlfriend saved media files on a USB drive and brought them to Ferndale Police in late September, according to an affidavit by an FBI special agent.
She told investigators the man in one explicit video with a 7- to 9-year-old girl was Mercer, according to the affidavit. She also recognized the room in which it was recorded, telling investigators it was in Mercer’s parents’ home in Farmington.
Another screenshot from March 19, 2021, shows a man with long hair who appeared to be masturbating alongside an image of male genitalia. The ex-girlfriend identified the room shown in the photo as a cottage in Dexter used by the Mercer family, according to the FBI agent.
A separate screenshot from April 2021 lists the age of the man FBI agents believe is Mercer. The listed age, 27, matched Mercer’s age, according to the complaint.
FBI agents interviewed Mercer on Sept. 27.
“Mercer explained that in approximately early 2021, Mercer was staying in Dexter, Michigan at a family cottage,” the FBI agent wrote. “Mercer was depressed during the pandemic and began to use (the website).”
Later that day, FBI agents obtained a search warrant for his iPhone. Investigators found approximately 15 images of child sexual abuse material, including “prepubescent minors and minors engaged in sexual activity.”
“On paper, he does not appear to be dangerous but predators like him hide behind the public image of a musician with no criminal history,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Princ told the magistrate judge.
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