Charge against suspended fire chief held for court
The suspended fire chief of Denbo Vesta Six Fire Company will head to trial on a misdemeanor charge of indecent exposure.
Derrek A. White, 45, of 240 Ridge Road, Centerville, appeared before District Judge Joshua Kanalis Tuesday morning for a preliminary hearing.
At the hearing, a former tenant of White testified that last year he had told her she could pay for rent with sex, then exposed himself to her.
The same tenant is also the victim in another case against White in which he faces a felony theft charge. White is accused of having the tenant’s car towed even though she had not been formally evicted.
Dylan Lamp, Centerville mayor and president of the fire department, confirmed last week that White had been suspended pending the outcome of the cases.
The woman had been living at White’s property in the 800 block of Old National Pike. At the hearing, she testified that sometime between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2021, White came to her trailer with his teenage son. It was then he made multiple comments about her being able to pay for rent with sex, she testified.
She claimed that White made a phone call to police about an unrelated issue and had them come to the trailer. When police arrived, White stepped outside to speak with them.
White then asked if he could use the restroom. According to the tenant’s testimony, he came out of the bathroom with his genitals exposed saying, “You know you want to.”
John Egers Jr., White’s attorney, asked the woman why she could not remember a more specific date the incident had occurred, and why she had waited so long to report it.
She testified that she regretted not making a record of the encounter the day it occurred, but that she knew it happened in the time frame she provided because it was cold outside, and she left for a vacation in March. She claimed she did not report the incident initially because she felt White’s phone call to police implied that he had connections to the local Centerville department.
“I was scared. I thought he had the police in his hand,” the woman testified.
Kanalis held the indecent exposure charge for court. White is scheduled to appear at the Washington County Courthouse for a formal arraignment at 1 p.m. March 24.
White is free after posting his $5,000 bond through a professional bondsman.