JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A former employee of the state attorney’s office, who recently resigned from his 16-year career as a prosecutor, claims that some employees bullied others to collect petitions, attend fundraising events and give donations to State Attorney Angela Corey’s campaign.
The state attorney’s office denied all the accusations.
Doug Dorsey said he had to walk away from his career at the state attorney’s office, which he once loved.
“It’s very tough to think that 16 years of my career, everything that I gave into, I don’t have anymore,” Dorsey said.
He said things began going south four months ago when he was contacted by a victims’ advocate shaken up about what she found.
“A bunch of investigative files that came from APS and DCF were found by her. And she put, at one point, there were over 100 of them. So she asked me that, ‘I don’t know what to do. Some of these victims are deceased and they are elderly people,'” Dorsey said.
Dorsey said he went through dozens of abuse case files dating back to 2012 that he said had never been touched by the state attorney’s office. He said he voiced those concerns to his supervisors but nothing happened.
Dorsey decided to resign on May 9, but not before he sent an email, making several accusations.
“One of the managing directors told me that I needed to go out and collect petitions and my answer was, ‘No, I can't do that right now,’” Dorsey said.
In emails sent to Patricia Dodson, managing director at the state attorney’s office, on May 6, Dorsey complained of significant politicking for Corey on work time, and he said he was even called to a mandatory meeting for division chiefs, where he was told to get more involved in Corey’s campaign.
Dodson said the emails came out of nowhere.
“They came out of nowhere on May 6, the day after one of my meetings with Mr. Dorsey on May 5 to question him about some of these concerns,” Dodson said.
Dodson said Dorsey’s work performance was being investigated. She cited he would miss work and court dates. She also said Dorsey knew he could lose his job, and she denied that anyone forced Dorsey to partake in Corey’s campaign or attend fundraisers.
“It was a meet-and-greet and Mr. Kahlil extended an invitation to Mr. Dorsey with no pressure whatsoever to attend,” Dodson said. “These concerns were never expressed to me. I’ve never heard anyone suggest that they had fears or concerns that they had to raise money, contribute money or there would be any adverse action against them (if they) failed to do so.”