Beaufort County restaurant owner who led women’s protest faces sexual assault allegations

A Beaufort businessman who led a public march this month to protest a local website operator, in part for alleged objectionable behavior toward women, has himself been accused of improper sexual conduct.

Three women filed separate reports with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office in July against Ken Reed, owner of Maggie’s Pub and Eatery in Habersham Marketplace in Burton and a manager at a Beaufort car dealership.

The reports classified two of the incidents as sexual assault and another as assault and battery. The women are former employees at Maggie’s Pub, and the incidents they reported related to their work there, according to those reports.

No charges have been filed against Reed, but an investigation is ongoing, Sheriff’s Office Capt. Bob Bromage said.

Reached by phone Monday, Reed said he was unaware of the reports and denied wrongdoing.

“I am not aware of any of that; I have not been approached by any of that,” Reed said when asked about the police reports. “If there are those cases sitting there, my attorney will be happy to answer any questions. I have not been approached with anything.”

Reed later said in a text message that his business partner, Marley Wreden, was fired in July, and that the women’s reports had been made up to keep her from losing the restaurant. Wreden says Reed’s comments are not true.

On Aug. 17, Reed helped lead a group of local small business owners protesting against Gene Brancho, who offers marketing and advertising services as operator of eatsleeplaybeaufort.com and an associated Facebook page, for what the marchers said were unfair business practices and behavior that made them uncomfortable.

The group walked through downtown holding signs opposing Eat Sleep Play Beaufort. At a meeting outside his Habersham restaurant on Aug. 16 to organize the protest, Reed said he got involved to support women who otherwise might feel unsafe.

“I’ll be the guy,” Reed told the gathering before the protest. “Let him come to me, and I will push your voices forward. And if he wants to bully someone, it will be me. I have made it very public. I have made sure everybody knows that I am the one behind you guys trying to help organize it. If he has a problem, it is going to be because I pushed him.”

The Beaufort Gazette and The Island Packet don’t typically identify those who report sexual assault. The three women who filed police reports agreed to be identified and speak on the record. All three of the women said they are coming forward in hopes other women will not be hurt.

Chiara Benitez, 18, started working at Maggie’s Pub in March, she said. Everything was OK at first, she said. But on July 14, Benitez said she gave Reed a ride home and he became aggressive with her.

She was the first woman to file a police report with accusations against Reed. The report is dated July 20 and is logged as an assault and battery accusation.

“He tries to push against me,” Benitez said. “I am telling him to stop touching me. I am getting loud with him. I am getting louder, and he is not listening. He pulls up my shirt all the way. ... The whole time I am telling him to stop.”

Benitez says she was able to push Reed away after he touched her breast with his mouth.

“It is crazy to think that someone who makes women feel so inferior, degraded and hurt could possibly say they are, ‘Here with women,’” Benitez said. “He is not. If he was, he would not get drunk and touch women.”

One day after Benitez filed her report, two other former employees filed reports.

Erin Wetherington, 32, filed a report of sexual assault against Reed. The police report says the incident took place in March. She said she filed the report after learning of Benitez’s claim.

“I feel like it was my fault that I didn’t do something,” Wetherington said. “If I would have done something, these other victims wouldn’t be victims.”

Wetherington provided a reporter the written statement she said she provided investigators. She said she was closing the bar when Reed exposed himself and told her she wasn’t leaving until she performed a sex act, the statement said. He wandered away for a short period but came back and said neither of them were going to leave until the sex act was performed, she said.

Wetherington said in her statement she told Reed “no” multiple times and pointed out that his wife and two guests were outside.

Reed then forced himself into her mouth, Wetherington said. She was able to run away to the kitchen before Reed grabbed her and began groping her again, her statement said.

“He shoved me on to the sink,” Wetherington said. “He was trying to put his hand down my pants. I shoved him backwards. Luckily he was drunk, and he fell back far enough that I was able to run out the door.”

Wetherington said she started paying other employees to stay at the restaurant with her so she wouldn’t be alone with Reed.

Kirsten Fisk, 30, said she filed her report against Reed alleging sexual assault after hearing about Benitez’s claim from another restaurant employee. She says she did not speak to Benitez before filing the report.

She filed the report in hopes that more voices would hold Reed accountable, she said.

The report says Fisk’s incidents took place between February and April. She said Reed groped her on numerous occasions and made sexual comments that made her uncomfortable.

It is “disgusting” that Reed is leading a campaign for women, Fisk said last week. She said that is one reason she is willing to speak publicly.

“It is insulting and it is scary because it paints him of a champion of women’s rights when he is the exact opposite,” Fisk said. “We don’t have anything to gain in coming out against someone like this, someone who has much more influence.”

In a phone conversation Monday, Reed said the incident Benitez described did not occur and hung up before a reporter could ask about the other reports.

“I’m done,” Reed said before hanging up the phone. “I tried to help some women. I’m going to continue to try to help women.

“If it’s going to turn into a battle where someone’s going to try to bash my name, they can do it. I’m not going to stop pursuing to help the women. There’s hundreds of them that have legitimately been harmed. That’s the end of it.”

In a text message later, he called the actions Wetherington described in her report a “false statement.”

Reed said an employee at the restaurant, sous chef Katie Martin, would back up his claim that Wreden had coached the women into making false statements.

Martin said Wreden pulled each employee aside individually one night to talk about one of the women’s allegations and tell them she planned to quit and, later that night, asked a group of employees what they were going to do about Reed, saying, “We just can’t let Ken get away with this,” Martin recalled.

Martin said she had never witnessed any inappropriate behavior by Reed, but she described conversations with two of the women that match some of what they reported to police.

Martin said she was at the bar the night Benitez told her she had been asked to drive Reed home and thought it odd because Reed lived so close. Martin said Benitez told her the following Monday that, after driving Reed home, Reed had asked her to help him unlock the door to his house and that when she did, Reed tried to pull her inside. Martin also said Benitez told her Reed had tried to pull up her shirt and put his mouth on her breast.

It was later in the week that Wreden met with employees individually to talk about the incident and later told a group that something had to be done about Reed, Martin said.

Martin said one night, at the end of a shift, Wetherington thanked Martin for waiting with her and offered to pay her “so Ken doesn’t mess with me,” Martin recalled.

Martin said Wetherington told her Reed had touched her breasts and told her to perform a sex act and that Wetherington said no. But Martin said some other details of Wetherington’s story — such as Reed being drunk — didn’t match what Martin observed the same night.

Wreden says Reed’s comments about her are not true. She says she was not fired, but quit after learning of the alleged sexual assaults. She added that she does not plan to pursue a legal battle for the business but does want Reed to pay her wages she is owed.

“All this came to light, and I walked out because I didn’t want anything to do with this,” Wreden said.

Benitez’s story is what made her decide to quit, she said.

“She said she wanted to go file a police report and that she didn’t feel comfortable working there,” Wreden said. “She said there were two other girls who also wanted to but didn’t want to hurt my restaurant. I told her I didn’t care if I lost my restaurant, she needed to go do what was right. If I lost my restaurant over it, it was not her fault.”

A police report filed by Reed on July 23 also conflicts with Reed’s claim that Wreden was fired. It states he suspected Wreden took some items from the business after she “quit” mid-shift on July 21. He also tells police in the report she is an employee that he bought the business from in June.

Reed told a reporter the day before the Aug. 17 protest that he had, at one point, denied Brancho service at the Salem Road dealership where Reed works because Reed had female employees whom Brancho made feel unsafe.

Reed, whose sign during the protest read “Stop Eat Sleep Play Beaufort from hurting businesses,” was found liable last year for money owed to a woman who performed housekeeping duties and ran errands for Reed, according to court records.

In July 2017, a Beaufort County judge awarded Wanda Faye Camacho $2,783.34 related to costs she said she was owed by Reed for the work in 2014, court papers show.

In his response filed in court papers, Reed said Camacho had invoiced more than she was due and asked for a summary judgment to pay $523 cash within five days of the ruling. Camacho provided receipts for various purchases she said she made on Reed’s behalf and copies of text messages she said showed when Reed had asked her to work.

In his response filed in court, Reed disputed the validity of the text messages and described the woman as a “disgraced former employee who is acting as an opportunist.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2018 at 1:50 PM.