Dorsey’s prior conviction surfaces in theft case

Ben Dorsey, one of two Clark County school board mem­bers cur­rent­ly fac­ing theft charges in con­nec­tion with youth soc­cer league funds, had pri­or drug-relat­ed con­vic­tions from 2010. 

In 2010, he plead­ed guilty to drug pos­ses­sion charges and served probation. 

According to a case his­to­ry from the Clark Circuit Clerk’s Office, Dorsey was charged with five counts, one of which was lat­er dismissed. 

The orig­i­nal charges were: 

• third-degree pos­ses­sion of a con­trolled sub­stance, sec­ond or sub­se­quent offense, involv­ing an unspec­i­fied drug
• first-degree pos­ses­sion of a con­trolled sub­stance, first offense, involv­ing an unspec­i­fied drug
• tam­per­ing with phys­i­cal evidence
• first-degree pro­mot­ing contraband
• use or pos­ses­sion of drug para­pher­na­lia, first offense. 

Dorsey was charged on Jan. 14, 2010 and plead­ed not-guilty on Feb. 12. On March 18, the con­tra­band charge was dis­missed, and the next day, Dorsey plead­ed guilty to the oth­er charges. His rec­om­mend­ed sen­tence was one year on the first three counts and six months on the fifth count. On May 26, Judge Jean C. Logue sen­tenced Dorsey and pro­bat­ed the sen­tence for three years. 

Board appointment 

In 2023, when Dorsey was appoint­ed to fill a vacan­cy on the Board of Education in the 4^th District, he dis­cussed his past drug addic­tion in an inter­view with The Winchester Sun. 

In the arti­cle, pub­lished March 16, 2023, Dorsey said that after a cou­ple of years at Marshall University, which he attend­ed on a soc­cer schol­ar­ship, he returned to Winchester, where his lifestyle involved par­ty­ing, and “end­ed up get­ting addict­ed to pills.” 

He said he had “a rough go of it” from about 2008 to 2010, got arrest­ed and spent time in jail. That’s when he knew he had to get his life togeth­er, and he entered coun­sel­ing and began tak­ing med­ica­tion to help with his addiction. 

Years lat­er, he said, he became acquaint­ed with Ashley Ritchie, a school board mem­ber, who encour­aged him to apply for the vacant seat. At first he was hes­i­tant because he didn’t want to bring up the past, he said, but after his fam­i­ly sup­port­ed him, he decid­ed he would apply. 

Current court case 

Ritchie, now Ritchie-Rowland, is the oth­er board mem­ber charged with theft from the Winchester Youth Soccer League.  She and Dorsey both served on the league’s board. 

Last month, both plead­ed not guilty. They are sched­uled for pre­lim­i­nary hear­ings in Clark District Court at 11 a.m. on Sept. 2. 

Dorsey, 45, and Ritchie-Rowland are accused of theft by unlaw­ful tak­ing or dis­po­si­tion involv­ing more than $10,000 but less than $1 mil­lion, a Class C felony. 

The case does not involve the school dis­trict or its funds. 

During a vir­tu­al board meet­ing on Oct. 22, 2025, Ritchie-Rowland admit­ted var­i­ous Amazon and oth­er charges and said she would repay them. 

According to the Kentucky State Police’s crim­i­nal com­plaint against Dorsey, between May 2023 and November 2025, he served as trea­sur­er of the soc­cer league, and it was dur­ing that time that “unau­tho­rized trans­ac­tions were made” involv­ing “per­son­al pur­chas­es and expenses.” 

The com­plaint said Dorsey “aid­ed, attempt­ed to aid, or, hav­ing a legal duty to pre­vent the con­duct caus­ing the theft, failed to make a prop­er effort to do so, and there­by was com­plic­it” in the alleged crime. 

Multiple trans­ac­tions, the com­plaint said, used a card num­ber asso­ci­at­ed with Dorsey, and the trans­ac­tions “were asso­ci­at­ed with Ashley Ritchie’s name, address, and/or per­son­al accounts.” 

Those trans­ac­tions, accord­ing to the com­plaint, were not autho­rized by the board. 

Also, the com­plaint states, on or about Aug. 4, 2025, Dorsey’s wife, who is not named, was observed in auto­mat­ic teller machine still pho­tographs with­draw­ing approx­i­mate­ly $100 from soc­cer league funds using a card issued to or asso­ci­at­ed with Dorsey. 

“The total amount of unau­tho­rized trans­ac­tions iden­ti­fied in the inves­ti­ga­tion exceed­ed $70,000,” accord­ing to the complaint. 

Dorsey is run­ning unop­posed for elec­tion to a full term on the Board of Education. 

Correction: In an ear­li­er WinCity Voices arti­cle, which was also pub­lished in The Winchester Sun and on its web­site, it was incor­rect­ly report­ed that nei­ther Dorsey nor Ritchie-Rowland had a crim­i­nal his­to­ry. That was because, in court doc­u­ments, the crim­i­nal his­to­ry nota­tion was left blank. A search by the Circuit Clerk’s Office lat­er dis­cov­ered Dorsey’s pri­or charges from 2010.