By Ayala Ben-Yehuda
A firefighter who faced sexual abuse charges in Bayside last fall that were later dropped is now confronting new accusations that he molested three girls near his Manhattan firehouse, the Manhattan district attorney said.
In the latest case, Firefighter Kenneth Dorsey, of Elmont, L.I., was arrested Feb. 26 and charged with sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child after three girls – now 11, 13 and 15 – told police that Dorsey had inappropriately touched them on various occasions in 2001 and 2002, the district attorney's office said in a criminal complaint.
Dorsey was released on $20,000 bail after his arraignment last Thursday in Manhattan Criminal Court, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney said.
If convicted Dorsey faces up to seven years in prison, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan DA said.
Dorsey's lawyer, Harold Levy, did not return a call seeking comment Monday, and attempts to reach Dorsey were unsuccessful.
A divorced father of two daughters, Dorsey was a former member of the Bayside Volunteer Ambulance Corps and the 111th Precinct's Auxiliary Police Unit, the TimesLedger reported after he was arrested Sept. 22.
The day before he had attended a party in Bayside at which prosecutors said a 6-year-old girl had kissed the firefighter's penis upon his request after she entered a bathroom he was using.
Charges in that case were dropped for lack of evidence, the Queens district attorney said.
The complaint filed by Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau alleges that Dorsey, a 12-year Fire Department veteran, touched the 11-year-old on the breast and buttocks and kissed her on the mouth. The complaint further alleges that the fireman masturbated in front of the 13-year-old and kissed the 15-year-old on the mouth.
The Manhattan DA's office could not give a reason why the girls were at or near Engine Co. 3 in Chelsea when the alleged abuse occurred.
A Fire Department spokesman said Dorsey had been suspended without pay.
Dorsey's age is listed as 39 in the Manhattan criminal complaint, but the Queens district attorney's office gave his age as 41 when it charged him with sodomy last September.
Dorsey told the TimesLedger after the Queens charges were dropped, “I'm just glad it's over.” He contended that the girl at the Bayside party had walked into the bathroom and he told her to leave.
Reach reporter Ayala Ben-Yehuda by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
