A Northampton volunteer firefighter is facing sexual assault charges in a case that authorities first began investigating more than seven years ago. Michael Dempsey Jr., 40, is accused of inappropriately touching the girl at his home in Northampton Borough in August 2018, according to court docum ents obtained by NBC10. The Northampton Fire Department said Dempsey has been suspended from his duties effective immediately. Court documents said the girl confided in her therapist in April 2019, accusing Dempsey, who was 32 at the time, of inappropriately touching her in his garage after a picnic the previous summer. The therapist filed a mandated ChildLine report with Northampton Borough police, who opened an investigation into the allegations, according to the documents. But the investigation stalled for more than seven years. The case was revisited this past May after the police chief and a sergeant directed a detective to review the file. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Brian Sheehan (@briansheehantv) The police chief declined to speak with NBC10 on camera but said that through a series of events, he, his sergeant and a detective became aware of the case. After reviewing the information, the chief said he wasn’t sure whether the case had been resolved correctly and advised the detective to contact the victim again. Court documents show that when the woman, now an adult, was contacted in mid-May, she told the detective “she was uncertain why the investigation had not proceeded but advised that she remembered the assault like it happened yesterday.” Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta said his office only recently became aware of the allegations and became involved in the case. “It was only a matter of a few months that we were aware of and got involved in this case,” Baratta said. Baratta, who was sworn into office in January 2024, said his office moved quickly to review the allegations this summer. “She made a complaint. She did what she thought she was supposed to do, I guess and for whatever reason it wasn’t filed through and as a child she has no reason why that happened. So, I’ll never be able to comment on that because it’s not really relevant. The relevant facts are what happened in 2018 and what evidence we can present before the jury to vindicate those charges,” Baratta said. The Northampton Fire Department said it conducts criminal background checks and child abuse clearance checks of its members as required by law. Dempsey posted bail on Wednesday evening. Court records do not show an attorney representing him in the case. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less