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Chuck Arnold’s attorney indicted on sexual battery charge

Carroll County Grand Jury indicts Dempsey for sexual battery

By Logan Watson

A Carroll County Grand Jury recommended charges of Felony Sexual Battery last week against Benjamin S. Dempsey, 65, of Huntingdon, after allegedly sexually assaulting an employee of the Huntingdon Post Office in March.

According to documents from the Huntingdon Police Department, Dempsey, an attorney with offices in Huntingdon and Dresden, was charged after Karen Whitaker, of Gleason, filed a report stating that she had been sexually harassed and inappropriately touched by Dempsey repeatedly over a period of two years.

Whitaker told police that the advances were made inside the work area of the Huntingdon Post Office, where Dempsey’s wife is also employed. According to Whitaker’s three-page report, Dempsey came to the post office numerous times per week, gaining access to the work area via a locked door that would be propped open by other employees.

On March 10, Whitaker reached her breaking point when Dempsey approached her and grabbed her buttocks. When Whitaker pushed Dempsey’s hand away and asked him to stop, he reportedly grabbed her again, saying, “I bet those implants cost $10,000.”

Whitaker told police that, after two years of harassment and groping, she “couldn’t take it anymore” and reported the harassment to Post Master Larry Green and supervisors Tony Kee and Ced Edmusson.

Whitaker’s report stated that she was contacted by a Postal Inspector, who asked her “what she wanted to happen” and if she considered Dempsey’s actions an assault. The investigation by the Huntingdon Police Department and the Carroll County District Attorney’s Office resulted in the grand jury’s indictment, which was handed down on September 6.

Dempsey’s bond was set at $1,000.

Earlier this year, Dempsey was appointed to represent former Gibson County Sheriff Chuck Arnold, who was indicted on multiple counts of official misconduct and other charges in November 2015, and is scheduled to begin the first of several trials on November 7 in Trenton. It is not yet known if Dempsey will continue to represent Arnold.

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