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. This included sexual harassment, workplace discrimination, and brandishing a firearm inside an office.”

Mattox previously told Politico those allegations were untrue.

Kelly said FDLE has not received a copy of the lawsuit and does not comment on pending litigation.

DeSantis’ Press Secretary, Jeremy Redfern, referred to a post he wrote on X when asked about the lawsuit. The post referenced the FDLE internal investigation into Desguin and Carpenter, but didn’t address the claims raised in the lawsuit.

Both Desguin and Carpenter provided statements for the Washington Post in its lawsuit against FDLE, which accused the agency of blocking the release of public records.

Desguin and Carpenter were recently cleared to sue the state after the Florida Commission on Human Relations concluded its investigations, Mattox said.

Desguin said he began raising concerns around 2021, when he was the special agent in charge of statewide intelligence for the FDLE, and Larry Keefe, the former public safety czar for DeSantis, asked him to get photographs and gather personal data on migrants being flown into Florida by the U.S. government. Desguin said that “FDLE could not legally conduct name checks, capture photographs, or compile intelligence files” without cause or reasonable suspicion.

Several times, Keefe told Desguin that he was getting tired of his “constant emphasis on reasonable suspicion and criminal predicate and failing to comply with his directives would have adverse consequences for Plaintiff,” the lawsuit says.

When DeSantis called several meetings to discuss his intent to relocate the migrants to other states, Desguin raised concerns about the risk of being accused of false imprisonment and kidnapping, the suit says.

But Chief of Staff James Uthmeier told Glass and Desguin that it was “imperative to complete at least one flight” of the migrants from Florida to another state, the suit claims.

“Uthmeir went as far as suggesting that his tenure as their superior might be in jeopardy if this directive was not fulfilled,” the suit states.

In a separate incident last September, Desguin said he was told by DeSantis aides that the governor needed some arrests at a neo-Nazi demonstration in Orlando, but he responded that FDLE could not arrest demonstrators who were “participating in a First Amendment protected activity.”

Despite raising those concerns, the governor’s staff insisted — “DeSantis was running for President at the time,” the lawsuit says — and FDLE agents made some arrests.

Also last fall, FDLE officials and governor’s staff argued over whether a new law prevented them from releasing specific details of the governor’s travel records. Janine Robinson, the head of the public records unit at FDLE, said she felt uncomfortable with the directive coming from the governor’s general counsel, which ultimately cost her a promotion and raise, the suit claims.

Shortly after that, Desguin and Carpenter were placed on administrative leave.

“This action constituted retaliation against Plaintiff for his participation in whistleblowing activity,” the lawsuit said, including his “refusal to comply with unlawful directives from Defendant DeSantis and … raise concerns about the agency’s trajectory and the hostile environment fostered by Glass.”

Desguin was given the choice of retiring by Nov. 17 or being fired, the lawsuit says. When he left the FDLE, he received an affidavit of separation which said the reason for the separation was “Retired. Not involving misconduct.”