The state attorney for the 14th Judicial Circuit in Panama City has notified the Florida Bar that he wants punitive action against Tony Henderson, the former chief deputy public defender for the First Judicial Circuit.
In a letter to two Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents that he copied to the Florida Bar, State Attorney Glenn Hess referred to Henderson as “this blight on its membership.”
Read a copy of Hess' letter. >>
The letter is the first document made public in connection with an investigation the FDLE conducted into allegations made against Henderson, former First Circuit Public Defender James Owens and Fort Walton Beach attorney and Medal of Honor recipient George “Bud” Day.
David Angier, a spokesman for Hess’ office, said Hess had not yet signed off on FDLE reports filed concerning Day and Owens.
The letter basically commends special agents Christopher Rigoni and Jane Schachle, for their work. However, it states that Henderson “has engaged in a pattern of criminal conduct that renders him unfit for public employment.”
The conduct “would have subjected him to criminal prosecution had your investigation been conducted prior to the expiration of the statute of limitations,” Hess said.
He referred specifically to an FDLE allegation that Henderson had impregnated a teenage girl in 1995.
Hess’ letter said Henderson had represented the girl in 1993 as a public defender when she was 14 years old. The letter says Henderson called her at home after hours and began to have sexual relations with her.
“She ultimately gave birth in April 1996, believing that Mr. Henderson is the father,” according to the letter.
“He has paid her $800 in monthly installments presumably in child support,” the letter states.
The letter also notes the statute of limitations for lewd and lascivious acts upon a minor is three years.
“A prosecution for that conduct is regrettably not now possible,” Hess wrote.
Contacted Friday, Henderson answered “no comment” when asked about the letter, whether he knew the girl mentioned in the letter, whether he had gotten her pregnant at age 14 and whether he was paying her child support.
Henderson ran for the First Judicial Circuit’s public defender’s job against Owens in 2008, and was named chief deputy after Owens won the election. The two had been friends since high school.
Henderson was forced to resign in November 2011 when the FDLE said it was investigating him for sexual harassment as a follow-up to a complaint filed with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office that October.
That complaint was made by the boyfriend of a client of Henderson’s. The female client told deputies Henderson had been asking her to “hang out” and “perform sexual favors such as oral sex.”
No charges have been filed in the case.
The FDLE investigated Owens and Henderson on more charges of sexual misconduct in 1998 when a woman told Santa Rosa County deputies the two men had sexually battered her.
No charges were filed.
In his letter to the agents, Hess states that in the course of their investigation “you received a wealth of information about other incidents involving sex or drugs.” None, it states, “are of a nature to compel a prosecution.”
“Fortunately,” the letter states, “the citizens of the First Judicial Circuit have repudiated Mr. Henderson and his employer, Tony (sic) Owens, with their votes.
“He remains, however, an embarrassment to the Florida Bar,” Hess continued. “By copy of this letter, I am inviting the bar to address this blight on its membership.”
Henderson confirmed that he remains “presently licensed as an attorney.” He declined to comment on Hess’ letter or on the state attorney’s effort to have the Florida Bar take action against him.
Owens had not received Hess’ letter, which was dated Dec. 18. Asked if he knew of a “pattern of criminal conduct” by Henderson while Henderson worked for him, the outgoing public defender answered “no.”
Owens said he had no knowledge of the girl named in Hess’ letter and knew nothing of “incidents involving sex and drugs” other than those incidents Henderson has been investigated for.
“I don’t know what time period they’re talking about,” he said.
Day, who has a bar complaint pending against him on an unrelated matter, was investigated by the FDLE alongside Henderson and Owens for allegedly taking the job as Owens’ chief deputy in Okaloosa County in 2008 and accepting an $84,000 salary for work he didn’t do.
That investigation has concluded but Hess’ office has not released its findings.
Day has denied the allegations against him, calling them politically motivated.
Owens said he has cooperated fully with the FDLE during its investigation of his office.
Incoming Public Defender Bruce Miller, who defeated Owens in last August’s election, declined comment on the letter until he had the opportunity to see it.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.