Ex-Department of Correction Officer Forged Documents to Receive Pay While in Military Prison: Documents

A former Connecticut Department of Correction officer and Army Reservist is accused of claiming to be on active duty and collecting state pay when he was actually in prison on a court martial after being accused of sexual assault. He’s also accused of forging documents and defrauding the state of more than $5,000 in pay.

Dennis Dockery, of Bloomfield, has been charged with first-degree larceny for allegedly defrauding the state and two counts of second-degree forgery.

The chief state’s attorneys office started investigating him in May after officials from the state Department of Corrections contacted them. 

State officials said Dockery had claimed to be on active duty when he was actually a prisoner at Fort Leavenworth, according to the arrest warrant application, and he’s accused of defrauding the state of $5,182.46 between November 2011 and March 2012.

The court martial stems from a case on April 10, 2010 in Hamden when officers responded to a family dispute and aggravated assault, according to court paperwork.

When officers went to the home, a woman told police Dockery choked her until she passed out and went on to describe their relationship as “master slave,” court documents state. Dockery was charged with second-degree strangulation, third-degree assault and disorderly conduct.

Because he was on active duty when he was arrested in Hamden, the U.S. Army charged him with rape of an adult by force and assault, according to court documents, and he pleaded guilty to assault by battery, adultery, violating a lawful general regulation and violating a lawful general regulation.

He was then sentenced to 17 months of confinement and dismissed from military duty.

In October 2012, Dockery was placed on appellate leave from the military and he was dismissed from the Army in August 2014, according to the application for arrest warrant.

However, Dockery never alerted the Department of Correction about his arrest, conviction or incarceration, court records say.

Dockery was dismissed from working for the state on May 27, 2016.

As the investigation continued, officials noticed that military orders from the Army with military orders Dockery gave to the Department of Correction and determined that they had been altered, according to court documents.

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