CORSICANA — The publisher of The Ellis County News, Joseph "Joey" Dauben is jailed in Navarro County after being indicted and arrested for sexually assaulting a teenage boy.
The Texas Rangers arrested him at his grandmother's house in Mabank on Monday.
Dauben, 30, was indicted on three counts of sexual assault of a child, one count of indecency with a child and sexual contact — all involving one 15-year-old boy.
The alleged incident occurred during a retreat for Olive Tree Ministries at Navarro Mills Lake in 2007. The church shut down two years ago.
The Navarro County district attorney's office said no other victims are involved in this case. Bond is set at $200,000.
Dauben's friends said they're still trying to raise money to get him out of jail.
He operates a network of local newspapers, Web sites and blogs in North Texas under the Freedom of the Press Group LLC banner.
Dauben's close friends and family refused to talk on camera, but told News 8 they think the charges against him are untrue — made up in retaliation for his critical reporting.
Dauben has taken an interest in the kidnapping and murder of Amber Hagerman from Arlington.
The lead story of Dauben's Ellis County Observer alleges that his accuser in the sex assault case "has a history of falesly making accusations."
In March, Dauben wrote a story published in the Ellis County Observer titled "Child Porn Rings: How They're Doing it on Facebook." In the article, Dauben alleges that Facebook "is the breeding ground of a massive, global, inter-connected, sick and sadistic, electronic child porn, child-sex trafficking ring."
"Much of my cause," he wrote on Facebook, "is to make sure little kids are not being abused, molested, et. cetera. That's what I'm really passionate about."
Dauben also ran an unsuccessful campaign to become mayor of Palmer earlier this year.
He was featured in a Dallas Observer cover story last July, calling him a "small town muckraker" on a crusade to expose abuses of power.
Before starting his own news enterprise, Dauben worked for the rival Ellis County Press. Publisher Charles Hatfield Jr. said he was "shocked" to learn of the allegations.
"He had no indication when he was doing work for us that he leaned toward that proclivity," Hatfield said.
E-mail ddenmon@wfaa.com and jwhitely@wfaa.com
