GEORGETOWN, Ohio — A man who was once a Brown County sheriff's deputy and employed by the Ohio Lottery Commission will face a jury trial in 2024 for child pornography charges, according to court documents.
After a months-long investigation, a grand jury indicted 70-year-old Dennis Chaney in April on five counts of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material and five counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor.
His jury trial is now scheduled to begin roughly one year after his indictment, on April 29, 2024. Before that, he's scheduled for a second pre-trial hearing on August 10.
Brown County Prosecutor Zachary Corbin said counts 1-5 pertain to five separate and distinct images or videos that were transferred. He added these images or videos show or depict a minor in a state of nudity. Corbin said Chaney didn't create, produce, or direct these images or videos. Corbin noted counts 6-10 are for possession of those five images or videos.
Leading up to Chaney's arrest, the Brown County Sheriff's Office said they received a tip in December 2022 that Chaney had transferred images and video that could possibly be child pornography.
According to court documents, the offenses stretched from November 2017 to November 2022.
The sheriff's office said Chaney was employed as a special deputy at the Brown County Sheriff's Office from September 2011 to December 2013. Chaney recently resigned from his position at the Ohio Lottery Commission, according to the press release.
A public records request for Chaney's personnel records and documents relating to him also showed Chaney was an officer with the Dayton Police Department from 1973 to 2009.
Chaney was a bomb squad commander and supervisor for the violent crimes unit. He retired as a Sergeant, according to his job application.
Chaney's job application also says he was a contract 'law enforcement professional' with MPRI, a military and law enforcement contractor, from 2009 -2011. He was "embedded with Army to investigate and mentor local national investigators on crimes outside US base boundrys (sic)."
In a memorandum, Sheriff Gordon Ellis wrote that the sheriff's office would not release "emails, internet usage evidence and certain search warrants which are currently sealed" because they're trial preparation records and are exempt from release under Ohio statute.
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