Pregnant Dog Altered Email Leads To Suspension

The Indiana Supreme Court imposed a 180-day suspension based on these stipulated facts

Respondent was employed with the Office of Corporation Counsel (“OCC”) for the City of Indianapolis. In November 2015, Indianapolis Animal Care and Control (“ACC”) inspected a kennel belonging to Paul Upton and later removed dogs from the kennel. The following month, approximately 14 puppies were born from dogs seized by the City, and at least five of those puppies died.

In January 2016, a reporter sought information from ACC regarding the status of the puppies. In response, Respondent sent an email to the reporter stating that Upton did not notify ACC or the City that any of the dogs were pregnant, and the reporter published a story quoting Respondent’s statement.

At a hearing in March 2016, Upton apprised the court of Respondent’s inaccurate statement to the reporter. Respondent falsely advised the court he had been misquoted and that he had actually told the reporter ACC had been unable to determine if any dogs were pregnant.

In April 2016, Upton submitted a public records request to OCC seeking emails between Respondent and the reporter during the dates at issue. Prior to responding to the request, Respondent altered the email in question by deleting the statement that had been quoted in the reporter’s article. The altered email then was provided to Upton.

Later in April 2016, Upton received from the news outlet a certified copy of the unaltered email from Respondent, which revealed that the email provided by OCC to Upton had been altered. Upton then filed a series of motions to remove OCC from the case, which led to Respondent withdrawing his appearance and acknowledging the email alteration.

(Mike Frisch)