An arson team was called to investigate after a fire was reported at Northern Kentucky attorney Ben Dusing’s Fort Mitchell home on the evening of July 13, according to police and fire reports obtained by LINK nky.
On July 25, Dusing published a video to his public Facebook page in which he said he believes the fire was started by natural causes, but that it is also “suspicious as hell.”
Police and fire reports show that Dusing’s 10-year old daughter and 13-year old son were home alone at the time of the fire, which started on the second floor of the 2,800 square-foot house. Dusing told first responders he was at his office in Fort Wright when his daughter called him to alert him to the fire.
A Fort Mitchell police report shows that a call was made to 911 at 9:14 p.m. on July 13 to report a structure fire on Silver Avenue. The officer who was first to the scene wrote that when they arrived, they saw “a young girl standing in the driveway and a young boy standing in the yard on the right side of the house.”
The officer said the fire department arrived shortly afterward, followed by Dusing, who told the officer he had been at his office working in Fort Wright when his daughter called to tell him about the fire.
“I asked the girl what was going on,” the officer wrote in the report. “She said there was a fire in her closet. I asked if everyone was out of the house and she confirmed that everyone was out. She said just she and her brother were home.”
Dusing told the officer his daughter was downstairs baking before she went upstairs and saw a fire in her closet.
The report says Dusing told the officer that “‘with everything going on’ it was hard for him not to worry that something suspicious had happened.”
In the July 25 Facebook video, Dusing talked about how he has been vocal in his criticisms of the Kenton County Family Court system.
“For those of you who don’t know, about a year ago I made the decision to speak out about some things that involve corruption of the integrity of our local court system here,” Dusing said in the July 25 video. “When you do what I did and when you say what I said they put a target on your back and the people invested in that system.”
The Kentucky Supreme Court temporarily suspended Dusing’s license in February over allegations that he threatened two Northern Kentucky attorneys. At the time, Dusing was a candidate for a family court judgeship in Kenton County, though his candidacy was contested due to the suspension. Dusing finished a distant third in that three-way race and was eliminated in the May primary.
In June, it was reported that the Kentucky Inquiry Commission, described by the Kentucky Bar as an independent body appointed by the court to receive and process complaints from any source which allege professional misconduct by lawyers, had initiated formal disciplinary charges against Dusing following a three-month evaluation of the allegations against him.
Dusing speculated in the July 25 video that people who make millions from that system “not surprisingly have been out to get me.”
“So to have a house fire happen in those circumstances, yeah, it’s suspicious as hell and we all know it’s suspicious as hell,” Dusing said in the video. “But I have no more reason to believe that it was foul play and I knew it was natural causes — in all sincerity.”
After asking Dusing about anything that may have been plugged in that could have started the fire, the responding officer requested that fire personnel call the fire investigation team to attempt to identify a cause.
“Mr. Dusing did not appear convinced that something suspicious had happened, but he did raise the possibility,” the report says.
The fire department report estimates the home’s damage at $110,000, though Dusing told LINK he believes that estimate is low.
Fort Mitchell Fire Captain Michael Brooks wrote in his report that once the fire was out, the crew remained on scene while the arson investigation team was collecting data.
“Arson investigation team was unable to determine and [sic] ignition source but determined that the origin of the fire started in the second story bedroom,” Brooks wrote.
In a conversation with LINK nky on Wednesday, Dusing said the loss of his home is difficult to get his head around. He said that, while the home is insured, collecting a list of everything they lost is a cumbersome process.
“It’s just a huge nightmare,” he said.
When asked about why he requested an arson investigation, Dusing said he wouldn’t necessarily say that he requested it.
“It certainly made sense to me that that was a suggestion that was made and I certainly didn’t oppose it,” he said.
Dusing spoke with LINK Wednesday morning; he then provided a photo of what appears to be his car with a flat tire, which he said happened after he spoke with LINK.
“Lots of this has been going on for a long long long time,” he said. “Is disconcerting.”
