SUMTER, S.C. — Published reports about a Midlands sheriff and allegations of misconduct in office were the focus of a press conference Wednesday.
Shaun Kent, an attorney for Sumter County Sheriff Anthony Dennis, responded Wednesday to a couple of local newspaper reports that there's an investigation into a sexual assault claim made against the sheriff decades ago. The articles--published this week in both the Post and Courier and The Item--state that a former employee of the department claimed she was sexually assaulted by Dennis almost 25 years ago.
The articles also claim SLED had a report of the allegation years ago but didn’t fully investigate it The report went on to say SLED was looking into the allegations again after a request by the ombudsman office at the South Carolina Attorney General's Office.
To be clear, Dennis is facing no charges of any kind and Kent denied the claims on behalf of his client at the news conference Wednesday.
News19 reached out to SLED to independently verify the investigation and what prompted it. After days of no response, we asked SLED Chief Mark Keel Wednesday about the reports while he was attending a news conference at the State House. He would only say that it was an ongoing investigation and that he had no further comment.
News19 also contacted the South Carolina Attorney General's Office about obtaining the letter they sent to SLED. However, they didn't give it to us citing state law which forbids them from releasing that particular document to the public.
Meanwhile, Kent said Dennis has asked for an independent agent to look at the claims on behalf of the sheriff's department. That effort will be led by former U-S Attorney for South Carolina Peter McCoy.
King said the report will be made public when it's complete.