Courtesy Photo Michael Mack appears in this undated photo provided by his family.

ALPENA — Michael Mack will not face criminal charges but has lost his license to practice law in Michigan after investigators accused the former judge of inappropriate relationships with people involved in the court.

Mack, an attorney and the former chief judge of the 26th Circuit Court serving Alpena and Montmorency counties, sent one of his clients numerous explicit text messages seeking “suggestive photos” and sexual favors, the Michigan Attorney Discipline Board said in a Thursday order revoking Mack’s law license.

Among several other misdeeds, the Discipline Board also accused Mack of unspecified “professional misconduct” while he presided as judge over a felony case, of encouraging a client who was on probation to drink alcohol, of practicing law while his license was suspended, and of failing to respond to state licensing investigators.

Separately, meanwhile, the Michigan State Police and Michigan Attorney General’s Office “found insufficient evidence that a crime was committed” after investigating allegations Mack had “inappropriate personal relationships with individuals who formerly had legal matters before his Court,” Danny Wimmer, press secretary for Attorney General Dana Nessel, said in a Tuesday email to The News.

Mack could not be reached for comment on this story.

The Discipline Board’s decision caps a years-long saga for the former judge first appointed to the bench in 2003 by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

The State Police and Attorney General’s Office first began investigating Mack in October 2019 after the Alpena Police Department and the Alpena County Prosecutor’s Office voiced concern based on information divulged during an unrelated police investigation. Police at that time would not specify the nature of those concerns.

The following month, the Michigan Supreme Court removed Mack as chief judge of the 26th Circuit Court and Benjamin Bolser, Mack’s replacement, quickly suspended Mack from the bench. Mack shortly thereafter announced his retirement, effective Jan. 3, 2020.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer later appointed Ed Black, who was then Alpena County prosecutor, to Mack’s 26th Circuit Court seat.

Then the coronavirus pandemic struck, delaying the criminal investigation into Mack for roughly a year.

Mack, in April 2021, fell down in an Alpena Township gas station after driving there with a blood alcohol content more than three times the legal limit. A month later, Mack crashed his car on Genschaw Road and police found he had a similarly high blood alcohol content.

When Mack failed to show up for multiple court hearings, police arrested him in December 2021. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, but the judge in that case delayed the sentence and allowed Mack to stay out of jail if he met the terms of his probation.

That drunk-driving charge, meanwhile, earned Mack an April 2023 reprimand from the Attorney Discipline Board and a more than $1,300 fine. When he failed to pay that fine, the Discipline Board suspended his license. It has remained suspended since.

Then, last week, the Discipline Board disbarred Mack and fined him nearly $2,300 for several violations of Michigan Court Rules and the Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct.