Former Lima probation officer Dexter Thompson testifies Thursday during his jury trial for inappropriate sexual conduct with probationers.
Charlotte Caldwell | The Lima News
LIMA — An Allen County Common Pleas Court jury found former Lima Municipal Court probation officer Dexter Thompson guilty on five counts and not guilty on two counts Friday for having improper sexual conduct with probationers.
The jury found Thompson guilty on four counts of sexual battery and one count of gross sexual imposition and not guilty on the two misdemeanor counts of public indecency.
Judge Jeffrey Reed will conduct a pre-sentencing investigation before sentencing, so sentencing was set for Aug. 8 at 9:30 a.m. Thompson has been out of jail on a $25,000 cash bond, so Reed decided to revoke his bond and take him into custody.
During closing arguments earlier in the day, Allen County Assistant Prosecutor Joe Everhart addressed statements made by Thompson’s attorney, Chris Bucio, about Lima Police Det. Sgt. Jason Garlock coercing the victims to make statements against Thompson and how the interrogation room at the Lima Police Department was intimidating because it was small with bare walls. Everhart said Thompson’s office was the one that was intimidating because it was small with brick walls and closed doors, and Thompson was intimidating as he was in a position of power.
Everhart said Thompson only admitted to what he had to admit to; everything else he had an excuse for.
Bucio said it wasn’t fair that Garlock had this case because he worked on the case of a former probation officer with similar allegations and he wouldn’t have been able to be neutral. He also said none of the victims noted Thompson was missing his left testicle due to testicular cancer he had in 2018.
Throughout the trial, jurors heard testimonies from three victims, two of Thompson’s former bosses, Garlock and Thompson himself.
The victims recounted different abuse from Thompson.
The first victim said she consented to having sex with Thompson once in his office and once at her apartment.
Thompson reached out to the second victim through Facebook messages for three months and she said he grabbed her, hugged her, kissed her and brought her hand down to his penis without permission at the end of one of her probation appointments.
The third victim said Thompson showed her his penis two times in his office and asked her to meet him at a Lima hotel.
All three victims said they were scared of the consequences of speaking out since they thought they could get sent to jail and all of them confirmed they don’t know each other.
Thompson addressed going to the first victim’s apartment after hours and on a weekend and said he wanted to address her flirting with him and the rumors that she was selling prescription drugs. He said he tried to talk to the victim in the lobby of the apartment but the victim had him come into her apartment so no one else overheard their conversation. He said he was only there for three or four minutes.
In regard to the months of Facebook messages he sent to the second victim, he said they bonded over cancer because the victim had a previous cancer scare. After talking about their experiences with cancer he said she hugged him and then they kissed. He denied the part where the victim testified about touching his penis.
The jury was read all of the messages. Some messages Thompson wrote through Facebook to the second victim included “If you ever allowed me to be on top of you kissing you, I wouldn’t want to get up off of you,” “you’re making me really want you” and “I want to do some things with you and to you.”
Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.
