Espionage

Accused Novi spy no stranger to setbacks, squabbles

Paul Whelan, the Michigan man detained in Moscow on suspicion of spying, launched a successful security career in the auto industry despite quitting one of his first law enforcement jobs under pressure, public records show.

Court records and interviews portray Whelan as an unpopular whistle blower embroiled in small-town squabbles and suffering petty indignities while working as a $7-an-hour, part-time police officer in Chelsea. The records provide a snapshot of Whelan's early career and chronicle another red flag in the past of a man with financial issues who was kicked out of the Marines.

"On the surface, it sounds like he was successful at working hard to overcome setbacks," brother David Whelan wrote in an email to The Detroit News on Tuesday.

The portrait is emerging amid questions about Whelan's past and whether the 48-year-old Novi man is a spy or an unwitting pawn entangled in an international incident. He's jailed in Russia and facing a possible 20-year prison sentence.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities have granted requests to visit Whelan made by representatives of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada, three countries in which he holds citizenship along with the United States, his brother said Tuesday.