NEWS

Judge won’t dismiss Dorer charges

Douglas Walker
dwalker@muncie.gannett.com
  • John Dorer was elected Delaware County treasurer in 2008, and won re-election in 2012.
  • Dorer is set to stand trial Feb. 24 on criminal allegations he mishandled public funds.
  • A lawsuit filed by Prosecutor Jeffery Arnold seeks to have Dorer removed from office.

MUNCIE – A special judge has rejected John Dorer’s request that 47 criminal charges pending against the Delaware County treasurer be dismissed.

Dorer’s defense attorneys had filed a motion in July that maintained in part that if their client was prosecuted for failing to deposit public funds by the end of the next business day, similar charges should be filed against other local officials.

Forty-four of the 47 counts filed against the treasurer in April accuse him of failing to deposit funds in a timely manner between April 2009 and June 2011.

Dennis Carroll — a veteran Madison County judge appointed to the Dorer case after Delaware Circuit Court 1 Judge Marianne Vorhees recused herself — this week denied the motion, and scheduled the criminal trial for Feb. 24.

Carroll did grant a request by Dorer’s attorney in a related lawsuit, Ralph Dowling, to complete the criminal case before the civil case goes to trial.

The suit was filed by Delaware County Prosecutor Jeffrey Arnold the same day the criminal charges were filed, and seeks to have Dorer removed from office.

Arnold and Eric Hoffman, chief trial deputy, cited state audits for 2010 through 2012 that they said documented “continuing and pervasive instance of nonfeasance” by Dorer.

Dowling maintained that if the civil case went to trial first, Dorer would “likely have to assert his Fifth Amendment rights” in response to some questions.

Carroll this week set the civil trial for May 19. He denied a Dowling request for a “more definitive statement” of the allegations against Dorer.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.