TULSA, Okla. — Former Tulsa County juvenile detention officer Dquan Doyle walked out of court after a judge dismissed the sexual abuse case against him.
Prosecutors said the witness would not testify or cooperate. Doyle’s attorney, David Keesling, told 2 News it goes beyond non-cooperation—he said the witness lied.
“There has not been a single component of the allegations against Mr. Doyle that have been substantiated even to a single fact,” said Keesling.
Doyle was accused of inappropriately touching girls inside the center and providing contraband, like drugs.
2 News Oklahoma's Erin Christy's been digging into these allegations and lawsuits for months.
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Keesling said false statements given by the witness include telling investigators that Doyle would bring in vape pens and have residents’ family members CashApp him for the products.
“Those have been subpoenaed; there are no CashApp transactions consistent with the allegations,” he said.
Although the affidavit states investigators interviewed residents, Keesling believes the staff was involved in implicating Doyle, making him the fall guy for their own illegal behavior. When the allegations surfaced, Doyle had already been terminated.
“Once they get caught they have to point the finger at someone who is not there because you don’t want to mess up what you got going on inside [the center],” he said.
Do you have something you think Erin Christy should look into?
You can email her at Erin.Christy@KJRH.com.
Doyle is one of several former and current staff members also accused in a civil lawsuit alleging systemic sexual, physical, and emotional abuse against minors at the detention center. That case is still pending.
“It would be difficult to proceed in a civil lawsuit, which has an even lower burden than a criminal case, if you have a complaining party that has given demonstrably false statements,” he said.
The Tulsa County District Attorney’s Office sent a statement:
“The victims’ rights in cases is our top priority, including their right to not cooperate. The victim, in this case, chose not to cooperate. Without their testimony and cooperation we could not proceed forward at this time.”
Smolen Law, the firm that brought the civil lawsuit, released a statement as well:
We stand behind the juveniles who were victims of Dquan Doyle, Jonathan Hines, and many other staff and personnel at the Tulsa County Juvenile Detention Center. Just because the primary victim of this felony charge was intimidated out of coming to court to testify does not mean that Doyle did not victimize multiple children who were residents within the juvenile detention center during his period of employment there.
One of the bully tactics that the defendants in the federal lawsuit unsuccessfully attempted was to force the juvenile detention center victims to publicly identify themselves, despite the heinous and shocking abuses perpetrated against them as children. To be a lone voice in a criminal court against one of these bullies so quickly after these tactics were employed would be a difficult task for anyone, much less a young person that was only recently in the very criminal justice system that now seeks their help and assistance. These children already have a natural distrust for the justice system, seeing as how they were abused while within its walls; therefore, it is completely understandable that they would be hesitant to willingly subject themselves to such scrutiny again.
While it is unfortunate that Mr. Doyle did not face justice for his crimes within the criminal courts, we remain optimistic that he will answer for the abuses he committed, to many juveniles, in the federal matter, which remains pending.
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