Tuscaloosa County Jail Deputy Charged With Raping Woman Seeking to Bond Out Ex

A Tuscaloosa County detention deputy is charged with raping a woman who had come to the county jail to bail out her ex-boyfriend, investigators said.

Thomas Dorsey, 34, of Tuscaloosa, was arrested Wednesday on charges of first-degree rape, first-degree sodomy and first-degree sexual abuse. He is being held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail without bond under Aniah's Law.

Dorsey had worked as a detention deputy for two months, according to Capt. Marty Sellers, co-commander of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit.

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The VCU investigates all assaults and homicides in Tuscaloosa County, but their team is also assigned most sexual assault investigations in the region as well.

Sellers said the woman's ex-boyfriend had been arrested and she came to the jail to try to post his bond. Dorsey approached her in the jail parking area and allegedly started talking to her, then told her to meet him off site, where he said he could help get her boyfriend out.

Sellers said the victim agreed to meet him at a shopping center in the 2600 block of East McFarland Boulevard. She got into a vehicle with Dorsey and was sexually assaulted there, according to her account to investigators.

The woman's father reported it to Tuscaloosa County Jail administration on Monday, because the man she described was a detention deputy. The alleged assault happened inside the Tuscaloosa city limits.

Investigators with the VCU's sexual assault unit worked the case and gathered evidence that Sellers said supported the woman's account. They took it to a magistrate, who issued three warrants.

Under Alabama law, first-degree rape and first-degree sodomy are Class A felonies and first-degree sexual abuse is a Class C felony.

Dorsey has not entered a plea and is presumed innocent unless and until he is convicted.

For more exclusive coverage of crime and courts in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.

Editor's note: the VCU originally said the victim was seeking to bail out her boyfriend, but later contacted local media and said the jailed individual was her ex.