LIMA — Allen County Common Pleas Court jurors heard from the boss of a former Lima Municipal Court probation officer and three former probationers who testified the officer had improper sexual conduct with them on the second day of a jury trial Wednesday.
During opening statements, Dexter Thompson’s attorney, Chris Bucio, said the probation department at the time of the allegations was “no different than a household that’s been victimized by burglary” due to problems with a prior probation officer before Thompson, so the department was already on high alert. He said the alleged victims were “pawns being used by an investigation with an agenda” and that the victims said things to Thompson that were over-flirtatious, but he won’t deny Thompson talked inappropriately to some victims through Facebook messages.
Lima Municipal Court Chief Probation Officer Marjean Warren testified that probation officers shouldn’t text probationers, they should call them, and they don’t make house visits because of safety reasons since they’re not armed, so probation officers should meet probationers in the office.
She said “some boundaries were crossed” with Thompson’s Facebook messages to probationers and she has to have trust in probation officers because she can’t be with them all the time. “I’m not a micromanager when it comes to supervision,” she said.
The first victim testified it was on her third visit with Thompson in his office that he pulled a chair up next to her, told her he had a dream about her and asked if he could touch her, to which she said yes because she said she didn’t know what else to do. She said Thompson then had sex with her and apologized afterward.
Evidence was then shown of Thompson’s Facebook messages to the first victim asking her if she was available around 10 one night so he could come to her apartment, and her phone’s call log confirmed the conversations she had with Thompson that day and the time of day each of the calls occurred. The victim consented to Thompson having sex with her at her apartment.
“When I first met Dexter I was probably at the lowest point of my life,” the victim said, because she crashed her car and lost her job and house. She said she was attracted to him but didn’t want sexual relations during or after her probation because she knew he was married.
The second victim said her abuse started when Thompson said “I didn’t know you had all that back there” referring to her butt when she was walking out of an appointment in his office.
Facebook messages over three months between the second victim and Thompson were read to jurors with Thompson always reaching out to the victim first, saying things like “you’re making me really want you,” “I want to do some things with you and to you” and “if you allowed me to be on top of you I wouldn’t want to get off of you.”
In the middle of the months of messaging, the victim had a probation appointment with Thompson where, without permission, she said he grabbed her, hugged and kissed her and brought her hand down to touch his penis over his clothes. Thompson then made a comment about the kiss afterward in a Facebook message.
The second victim said she was never interested in a relationship and never met him outside of work like he wanted, and she kept messaging him telling him to wait until she was done with probation for her to consider a relationship because she said she was trying to redirect the conversation and not give in to what he wanted.
The third victim said Thompson showed her his penis in his office during their third meeting. She asked what he was doing and he said he wanted to have sex with her. She confirmed she occasionally talked sexually on the phone with Thompson after this incident.
On a separate occasion over the phone, Thompson asked the victim to meet him at a Lima hotel, which she didn’t do. Thompson tried to friend request her on Facebook and Instagram but she ignored it because she thought it was weird.
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. None of them were friends with Thompson on Facebook.
“This man’s my judge and jury right now,” the first victim said.
“I would have lost everything,” she said, if Thompson got her in more trouble.
“I knew that he was in charge of my life at that point.”
Reach Charlotte Caldwell at 567-242-0451.
