After Dallas County Sheriff Chad Leonard was sued from an incident that occurred two years ago, a state organization has announced their support for Leonard. 

Leonard and Dallas County have been sued by Gary DeMercurio and Justin Wynn after the two men were arrested on September 11th, 2019 for breaking into the Dallas County Courthouse claiming they were hired to do so. 

Recently, the Iowa State Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ Association announced its support of Leonard in the matter saying a crime was committed and the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office followed the proper protocols when making the arrests.

DeMercurio and Wynn were employees of cybersecurity advisor Coalfire and were contracted by the State Court Administration to conduct security tests, but the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office was not aware of the agreement and arrested them when they were found on the third floor of the courthouse in possession of burglary tools. DeMercurio and Wynn were originally charged, but the Dallas County Attorney’s Office dropped the charges a few months after the arrest.

The civil lawsuit alleges negligence, false arrest, abuse of process, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and malicious prosecution against Dallas County and Sheriff Leonard after the two men showed their “get out of jail free” letter to Dallas County deputies but were arrested anyway. 

Raccoon Valley Radio will bring you more information as it becomes official.