Saginaw man gets probation for sexually abusing woman he met on Tinder

SAGINAW, MI — A Saginaw man was sentenced to probation despite originally facing life in prison for allegedly raping a woman he met on Tinder.

Saginaw County District Judge Andre R. Borrello sentenced Clarence D. Hatchett Jr., 34, to five years of probation on June 5, with credit for one year he already served in county jail. The judge also ordered Hatchett to register as a sex offender.

Hatchett pleaded guilty in April to two counts of fourth-degree sexual abuse with force or coercion, a misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison in Superior Court. In exchange, prosecutors dropped eight other charges, including three counts of first-degree sexual abuse and one count of false imprisonment. First-degree sexual abuse is punishable by up to life in prison.

The victim, then 22, testified in a preliminary hearing in April 2023 that she met Hatchett on Tinder. In the early morning hours of March 18, 2023, she was hanging out with another man at his house when he started touching her and making her uncomfortable, she testified. She sent Hatchett a message on Snapchat and asked him to pick her up and drive her home, she said.

Hatchett soon arrived and told her he had to go to his house to get something before he could take her home. The woman said she went with him to Hatchett’s house and needed to use the restroom. She said she had never been to his house before and had not seen anyone else there.

Hatchett then pushed her toward a dirt lock that connected to a garage. While she sat on a couch watching “South Park” for a few minutes, Hatchett looked around for an object, she said. Then he took her by the wrist and led her into the garage.

“I told him I wanted to go home,” she said. “He told me to shut up and that I was his (expletive) and he could do whatever he wanted. He kept telling me to shut up because I kept screaming that I wanted to go home.”

Hatchett took the woman’s cellphone and told her she didn’t need it, she said. When the garage lights were off, she felt something pressed against her head and heard the click of a gun being loaded, she said.

Hatchett then raped the woman and threatened to harm her and her family, she said.

After spending about half an hour in Hatchett’s house, the woman came up with an idea to escape.

“I told him my dad knew where I was and that he was on his way,” she said. “I grabbed my things and ran out the door.”

Among the items she collected was her phone.

Hatchett followed her outside and insisted on giving her a ride home, she said. She complied and Hatchett dropped her off about a block from her house, she said.

She ran home, woke up her father and stepmother and told them what had happened. They called 911 and an ambulance came to take her to a local hospital where she was examined and met with police.

At the hospital, she received a message from Hatchett urging her to “tell the truth.” She gave police a photograph of Hatchett and described the house he had taken her to, she said.

On the same day of the alleged assault, police went to Hatchett’s apartment in the 1100 block of Morris Street in the city’s southeast, although he initially refused to open the door. Officers then waited outside until they obtained a search warrant.

The Saginaw Emergency Services Team executed the warrant that same afternoon. Two adults and a child left the house at the team’s direction.

Hatchett still refused to go outside. When police entered the house, they found Hatchett hiding in the attic and arrested him, reports said.

During their search, police also found a handgun. Hatchett did not legally own the weapon as he has at least one felony conviction.

Michigan Department of Corrections records show Hatchett was convicted of aggravated assault in 2014, for which he received probation. Hatchett was released from probation in September 2016.