The former chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party was arrested Friday morning and charged with child molestation, according to police.
Joseph Russell Dendy, 71, was arrested at his West Cobb home and charged with aggravated child molestation and child molestation, both felonies. He was being held at the Cobb jail without bond Saturday.
Later Friday, an additional charge was added: fugitive. Dendy is also wanted by the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Office in Michigan, as well as the Laurens Police Department in South Carolina on additional sexual abuse allegations, Sgt. Dana Pierce with Cobb police said late Friday.
In Cobb, Dendy allegedly molested two boys, ages 4 and 12, during separate incidents inside his Creekview Court home, his arrest warrant says. One victim, who is now 20, told police he was molested in 2007 or 2008, when he was 12 or 13 years old. A second victim said Dendy molested him in December 2011, according to police.
An arrest warrant was issued for Dendy late Thursday, and deputies went to his home and arrested him at 9 a.m. Friday, booking records showed.
Dendy served two, two-year terms as leader of the Cobb GOP and was succeeded last year by his vice chair, Rose Wing.
