Sumter County Sheriff Dennis won’t be prosecuted on rape charge, AG office says after SLED probe
The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office held a press conference Wednesday afternoon to address the rape allegations made against Sheriff Anthony Dennis.
The sheriff’s office media room was packed. The front row was filled with sheriff’s office command staff, mostly men and one woman, while more of the agency’s personnel lined the back wall. Sumter County Councilman Carlton Washington, who works closely with public safety, also attended.
Dennis entered the room with his wife, Lorraine Dennis, who is Sumter County’s assistant administrator, as well as his attorney, Shaun Kent, secretary Felisha Dukes, Chief Deputy Hampton Gardner, Sumter City Councilman James Blassingame and Harry Wilson, general counsel for the sheriff’s office.
Similar to the Jan. 26 press conference held in initial response to the allegations, Dennis did not speak. After a brief introduction from Sumter County court liaison Gwen Herod, Kent took to the podium.
He said that “thoughtful, thorough and independent” investigation into the rape allegations were done and the investigations by the Third Circuit Solicitors Office, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, the State Law Enforcement Division and the independent investigation by former U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Peter McCoy all came to the same conclusion: the case was without merit and will not be prosecuted.
A two-sentence letter obtained by The Post and Courier, written by Heather Weiss, senior assistant deputy attorney director, to the SLED agent assigned to the case, stated the AG office concluded “there is insufficient evidence to merit criminal prosecution.”
Melissa Addison, the former lieutenant who made the allegations, told Tony Bartelme, of The Post and Courier, she was disappointed but not surprised by the attorney general’s decision.
She told Bartelme she experienced first-hand the uphill climb many sexual abuse victims face, but that she had few regrets coming forward.
"Because of my personal struggles with navigating through this process, it has truly given men new insight regarding the phrase 'Justice delayed is justice denied,” Addison said.
Neither McCoy nor any representatives from the other agencies involved attended.
According to an Uncovered article by Bartelme that was published in January in tandem with The Sumter Item and The Post and Courier’s partner newspapers, Addison joined the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office in 1997 as an evidence technician under the late Sheriff Thomas Mims. In the fall of that same year, Addison alleged, she was raped by Dennis in his home. Years later in 2004, she alleged, she was groped by Dennis in his office.
During the press conference, Kent said these allegations were never made public until 2020 after she lost her final lawsuit against the sheriff’s office in 2019 – after what he said was 25 years – and called her actions that of a “disgruntled ex-employee.”
But the case went beyond Addison’s explosive claims, highlighting concerns about how the state polices its sheriffs.
The Uncovered investigation found Addison, based on documents obtained and Freedom of Information Act requests, filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in February 2005 of Dennis’ alleged sexual advances but quickly withdrew the complaint in fear of what Dennis would do to her “professionally and personally.”
Addison also contacted SLED Chief Mark Keel in 2019 and spoke with two SLED agents in 2020. She also gave the agency names and other leads to corroborate her claims, but SLED did little to verify or properly record the existence of the case in the beginning, The Post and Courier found. Keel even told Bartelme in January that as result of their actions, the case “fell through the cracks.”
Addison spoke with Bartelme this week about SLED’s investigation and questioned whether SLED fully investigated the case, despite the attention her allegations generated. She also questioned why the attorney general didn't contact her directly about its decision to not prosecute. The attorney general's own guidelines on sexual assault allegations urge prosecutors to "meet with the victim" and "if case is not able to be charged, make appropriate referrals for victim (counseling, etc.)."
None of that happened, Addison said.
"The sheriff didn't win anything here," she said this week. "And I didn't lose anything but the weight of carrying the secret."
At the press conference, Kent said on Dennis’ behalf and the sheriff’s office that any victim of a crime should come forward and that no person is above the law.
To finish, Kent thanked McCoy and all the other agencies involved in the investigation. Lastly, that Dennis was innocent. At this, Lorraine looked down, shaking her head in agreeance.
A reporter asked if any representatives from the mentioned law enforcement agencies who investigated were present, to which Kent answered no. This would be only question he would answer before he and Dennis filed out of the room.
Herod stopped on her way out to answer another question of whether the money used to pay the attorney was Dennis’ money or taxpayers’? She said Dennis paid for his attorney out of his own money.
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