Ex-chaplain free on bond in prison sex-assault case

A former prison chaplain is free on $30,000 bond after being formally charged with 50 counts of sexual assault involving three female inmates.

Kenneth Dewitt surrendered to the Jackson County sheriff’s office early Monday and was released on bond after pleading innocent before a district judge.

Dewitt’s attorney Jeff Rosenzweig said Dewitt will next appear before a Circuit Court judge on Jan. 22. Rosenzweig did not comment further on the case.

Henry Boyce, prosecuting attorney for Arkansas’ 3rd Judicial Circuit, said he requested that bond be set at $50,000, but Rosenzweig argued that the amount was too high.

Newport District Court Judge Barbara Griffin set the bail at $30,000 and agreed with a prosecution request to require Dewitt to check in by telephone each week with his whereabouts to the Jackson County sheriff’s office.

Boyce brought the charges Thursday against Dewitt, 67, of Patterson after a year-long investigation by the state Department of Correction’s internal affairs office and the Arkansas State Police.

Dewitt, a former prison chaplain at the McPherson Unit for women in Newport, is accused of having a sexual relationship with three female inmates, which spanned almost five years for one. The 50 counts, however, are relegated to only the acts between January 2013 and September 2014.

Arkansas Code 5-14-103 says that a prison employee as well as those employed by the Department of Community Correction, the Department of Human Services or any city or county jail can be charged with third-degree sexual assault, a Class C felony, if they have sexual relations — including intercourse or deviate sexual activity — with an inmate.

The law goes further and also makes it illegal for a member of the clergy who “is in a position of trust or authority over the victim and uses the position to engage in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity.”

The law also says that even if the inmate “consented” to the conduct it is “no defense to the prosecution” because inmates are subject to the control of prison employees.

Each of the three female inmates was part of the faithbased Principles and Applications for Life program at the McPherson Unit.

According to affidavits, Dewitt told one inmate she “didn’t have a choice.” Another was told she “would not ever go home.”

Boyce said a jury trial in the case would not likely be held until next summer.