A former lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve was arrested Friday after officials said
they learned he collected military paychecks while locked up in Kansas’ Fort
Leavenworth prison for assault.
Dennis Dockery was charged with first-degree larceny by defrauding a public
community and two counts of second-degree forgery, military.com reported.
Dockery, 52, allegedly forged documents so it would appear he was serving at Fort
Leavenworth instead of sitting behind bars there. A military reservist, Dockery was
entitled to a portion of his state salary while activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom
but he would have had to forfeit the benefit if it was known he was imprisoned.
Dockery served 17 months at Leavenworth – from September 2011 to October 2012
after being found guilty of assaulting a woman while on active duty and engaging in
two inappropriate relationships with subordinates while serving a tour in Iraq from July
2009 to April 2010. He was also dismissed from the military as a result of the court-
martial, FOX61 reported.
But during the prison sentence, authorities allege Dockery still unlawfully collected
$5,182 in state salary.
After his stint at Leavenworth, Dockery worked at the Department of Correction.
But the Army received a tip about the allegedly fraudulent payments and began
investigating him. Dockery was fired by the Department of Correction on May 27,
four days before he was set to retire.