3 arrested after federal judge robbed at gunpoint at home

CINCINNATI – A federal judge and her husband, a prominent former class-action trial attorney, were robbed at gunpoint in their suburban Cincinnati home Friday night, and three suspects were arrested almost immediately, police said.

Judge Susan Dlott and her husband, Stanley Chesley, were unnerved but fine after the ordeal, Lt. Rich White of the Indian Hill Rangers police department said Saturday.

The robbery began late Friday night when three men with guns kicked in the basement door of the couple's home in suburban Indian Hill, White said. The three had begun removing items from the house when they were confronted by Chesley, White said.

The couple was then held at gunpoint while they were robbed of money, credit cards and identification and then taken into the garage where the suspects apparently planned to steal a car, White said. Chesley was pushed down stairs at one point, he said.

But in the garage, the suspects heard a noise and ran out of the house, he said. The couple fled into the woods, made it to a neighbor and called for help about 10:40 p.m.

Almost at the same time, police in neighboring Madeira pulled over a vehicle for a stop sign violation and determined the individuals in the car may have been involved in the robbery, White said. Personal items from Dlott and Chesley's house were in the car, he said.

Three suspects were being held in the Hamilton County Justice Center Saturday, charged with two counts each of aggravated robbery and abduction. Police identified two of the suspects as Terry Jackson Jr., 21 and Darrell Kinney, 20.

White identified the third suspect as Demetrius Ivory, 20. The Hamilton County Justice Center identified the suspect as Demetrius Williams. There was no information listed at the jail about attorneys who could comment on the charges.

The couple is uneasy about what happened, said White, who emphasized that police believe they arrested everyone involved.

"When you have people pointing guns in their faces, and holding them at gunpoint, it's a little unnerving, I'm sure," White said.

Dlott was appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton in 1995 and has overseen numerous notable cases in her career. Last year, she allowed a lawsuit by 10 tea party groups to move forward against the Internal Revenue Service, rejecting a request by the federal government to dismiss all the allegations that the agency subjected conservative groups to additional, often burdensome scrutiny.

Chesley is a former attorney who won a $200 million settlement in 2001 for diet drug clients. Once dubbed the "Master of Disaster" for his prowess in winning large class-action cases, he was disbarred by the Kentucky Supreme Court in 2013 for taking more than $20 million in attorney's fees from the settlement, which exceeded the amount established by his client contracts and his contracts with co-counsel.