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Press Release

Former Officer At Providence Police Department, Located In Webster County, Kentucky, Indicted For Civil Rights Violations And Falsifying A Document

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Kentucky

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – A former officer with the Providence Police Department, located in Webster County, Kentucky, was charged by federal grand jury indictment this week, with two counts of willfully depriving an arrestee of his constitutional rights under color of law, and one count of falsifying a document, announced the Justice Department and John E. Kuhn, Jr., United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.

William Dukes, Jr., 42 of Greenville, Kentucky, was arrested today and currently is in federal custody.

Count one of the indictment alleges that defendant Dukes while acting under color of law as an officer with the Providence Police Department, arrested a Kentucky resident (J.L.), on May 26, 2016, without probable cause to believe that J.L. had committed a crime, and that this offense involved the use of a dangerous weapon and resulted in bodily injury to J.L. The arrest willfully deprived J.L. of the right, secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free from unreasonable seizures.

Count Two of the indictment alleges that on May 26, 2016, defendant Dukes, while acting under color of law as an officer with the Providence Police Department, willfully deprived J.L. of the rights secured and protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to engage in free speech and to petition the government for redress of grievances. Specifically, after J.L. attempted to exercise his right to complain about the actions taken against him by Dukes, a police officer, defendant Dukes took adverse action by arresting J.L. at his home, without legal justification, in order to deter J.L. from continuing to exercise that right. This offense involved the use of a dangerous weapon and resulted in bodily injury to J.L.

Count Three of the indictment alleges that on May 26, 2016, Dukes, acting in relation to and in contemplation of a matter within the jurisdiction of the FBI, knowingly covered up, falsified, and made a false entry in, a record and document with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence the investigation and proper administration of that matter.

If convicted, Dukes faces a maximum statutory punishment of 10 years of imprisonment on Counts One and Two, and 20 years of imprisonment on Count Three.

This case is being investigated by the Louisville Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Seth Hancock of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky, and Roy Conn III, Trial Attorney of the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and Dukes is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Updated June 21, 2017

Topic
Civil Rights