Nearly four months after his charges were sent to a grand jury, former Chattanooga police officer Benjamin Dessalines has been indicted on a sexual battery charge.
Dessalines was arrested on Nov. 29 and charged with felony kidnapping and felony sexual battery after allegedly taking a woman caught shoplifting to his apartment, fondling her and telling her he wanted to have sex with her.
The kidnapping charge was dismissed during his preliminary hearing because Hamilton County General Sessions Court Judge Lila Statom didn't believe prosecutors met certain criteria to charge Dessalines with kidnapping.
Her decision was based on part of the woman's testimony, she said. The woman testified that Dessalines didn't physically force her to go inside his apartment or get into his car, something Dessalines' defense attorney, former Criminal Court Judge Rebecca Stern, elicited during a cross-examination. As a result, only the sexual battery charge was sent to the grand jury.
The grand jury could "review my decision as well and [could] decide my decision was in error," Statom said at the time.
As it turns out, just under four months later, the grand jury agreed. Dessalines was indicted on May 29, only on a sexual battery charge.
Dessalines has been out on a $15,000 bond, though he may have to be re-booked. That's because "When someone who has previously made bond on an initial charge is indicted, they are re-booked," Hamilton County District Attorney spokesman Bruce Garner said.
It's not clear why it took nearly four months for the case to be presented to a grand jury, as officials cannot discuss ongoing investigations, and the district attorney's office declined to clarify whether that amount of time is out of the norm.
Dessalines was the second officer to be investigated for alleged sexual assaults. Desmond Logan - also a former officer in the city's neighborhood policing bureau - is now the subject of an FBI investigation and a Hamilton County Sheriff's Office criminal investigation. Logan allegedly raped at least three women.
Both Logan and Dessalines were investigated by the Chattanooga Police Department's internal affairs division.
Dessalines was fired after a disciplinary review hearing on Jan. 31. Logan resigned via email just minutes before his hearing on the same day.
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