Whistleblower Accuses Fdle Commissioner, Desantis Of Retaliation, Wrongful Termination

TALLAHASSEE –  A former top state law enforcement official claims he was forced to retire after questioning “unlawful directives” from Gov. Ron DeSantis, including requests to delay the release of public records, photograph and transport migrants out of state and arrest neo-Nazi demonstrators in Orlando. Shane Desguin, the former chief of staff for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, filed a whistleblower lawsuit in Leon County Circuit Court this week accusing the agency and DeSantis of wrongful termination and retaliation. Desguin says that despite his stellar work performance, he was targeted because he reported “gross misconduct and unlawful activities” by his boss and other officials in the DeSantis administration. The lawsuit says Desquin faced “disparate treatment and retaliation” from FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass and others. Desguin said he was forced to step down from the FDLE last November after more than 30 years with the agency because of the concerns he raised about the agency delaying the release of public information requested by reporters. His deputy chief of staff Patricia Carpenter was fired when she sought whistleblower status for raising the same concerns. Carpenter will be filing a similar lawsuit, said their lawyer, Marie Mattox, a well-known employee rights attorney in Tallahassee. Both were the subject of an internal investigation by FDLE that produced a 129-page report that the lawsuit calls a “thinly veiled attempt at character assassination.” Dana Kelly, an FDLE spokeswoman, said Thursday in an email that the investigation showed that Desguin and Carpenter “created workplace chaos, endangered the safety of other employees, and acted dishonestly and unprofessionally.