Michigan and Indiana authorities are facing criticism after a false child abuse allegation against former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg led to him being separated from his four-year-old twins for 24 hours while investigators questioned the children.

The accusation, made by what police later described as a “mentally unstable woman,” has since been deemed unfounded, and officials are now investigating whether criminal charges should be brought for filing a false report, as reported by The Washington Post.

The woman claimed Buttigieg had confessed to committing “unspeakable violent crimes” years earlier and that his children were in danger. 

However, investigators made little effort to verify her allegations before visiting Buttigieg’s home. His attorney later reviewed travel records showing Buttigieg had never even been in the Alabama city where the alleged abuse was said to have occurred.

When contacted by Washington Post reporters, the woman was unable to provide evidence supporting her claims and instead accused journalists of participating in a cover-up.

Child welfare experts sharply criticised the investigation, arguing authorities failed to carry out even basic fact-checking before disrupting the family. 

University of Michigan law professor Vivek Sankaran told The Washington Post that the handling of the case was “incredibly poor investigative work” and said separating children from their parents based on such an unverified allegation was “reckless,” warning that “it should scare all of us.”

Buttigieg had described the ordeal as the “darkest hours” of his life in a 26 June Substack post. 

Michigan’s attorney general has since opened an investigation into both the false allegation and how it was handled, saying “common sense would have shown that this targeted report plainly lacked credibility on its face” and questioning why authorities failed to exercise greater due diligence before separating the family.