TALLAHASSEE - A former Florida administrator has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), claiming that he was forced to retire for exposing the defendants’ “illegal practices.”
Officials at the Governor’s Office, however, reject the allegations in the state lawsuit and point to an internal investigation that is critical of plaintiff Shane Desguin’s employment record and to findings of misconduct.
Desguin, who held the position of FDLE chief of staff at the time of his termination on Nov. 17 of last year, filed the lawsuit June 19 in the Second Judicial Circuit Court in Leon County. Desguin is seeking general and compensatory damages and economic losses in the litigation, which was brought under the Florida Whistleblower Act.
The lawsuit accuses the FDLE and the governor's office of retaliating against Desguin due to his disclosure of the defendants’ “malfeasance, misfeasance and/or gross misconduct.” The retaliation against the plaintiff was the result of him raising legal questions about state policies and activities, including the alleged violation of immigrants’ rights through surveillance activities; potential false imprisonment or kidnapping violations as a result of a state decision to transport immigrants to destinations outside of Florida; arrests of neo-Nazi demonstrators with no legal basis; and allegations of nepotism by other agency administrators, the suit says.
“Despite his stellar work performance during his employment with defendant FDLE, (the) plaintiff was subjected to disparate treatment, different terms and conditions of employment, and held to a different standard because he reported (the) defendants’ misfeasance, malfeasance, gross misconduct and unlawful employment activities and was subject to retaliation thereafter,” the lawsuit states.
Desguin also raised questions about officials’ decision to block release of DeSantis travel records – an action that the plaintiff said was a violation of the intent of public records statutes.
Desguin’s placement on administrative leave last year was retribution for attempting to keep the DeSantis administration within legal boundaries, according to the lawsuit.
“This action constituted retaliation against (the) plaintiff for his participation in whistleblowing activities, including … actions wherein (the) plaintiff) refused to comply with unlawful directives from defendant DeSantis and attempted to raise concerns about the agency’s trajectory and hostile environment …” the complaint says.
In response to a query, a spokeswoman for the Florida Governor’s Office referred the Florida Record to comments by Florida officials on X, formerly Twitter, about Desguin’s allegations and criticisms of media reporting on the lawsuit.
“Funny, isn’t it, how @ABC and other media today fail to mention that this same official was found by investigation to have had an affair with a subordinate, point his gun at a colleague in the workplace and give out improper raises,” DeSantis’ communications director, Bryan Griffin, said in a post last week.
The investigation report, which consisted of more than 120 pages, resulted from input from 38 witnesses and concluded the official violated rules involving ethics, workplace conduct and insubordination, according to Griffin.
And DeSantis’ press secretary, Jeremy Redfern, said on X, “This guy was under a formal investigation , which revealed that he pointed his firearm at somebody in his office. If I did that while in the military, I would’ve been court-martialed.”
In the lawsuit, Desguin said he was presented with an Affidavit of Separation that said the reason for the termination was “Retired. Not involving misconduct.”
The Governor’s Office indicated that any further statements would be contained in the office’s legal filings.