The National Police Defense Foundation (NPDF), a congressionally recognized and IRS designated 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, would like to bring to your attention the plight of Supervisory Deputy United States Marshal (SDUSM) Robert Ledogar who is currently in a legal battle to fight his unjust termination due to alleged whistleblowing activities.
SDUSM Robert Ledogar whose twenty-five-year career as a Deputy U.S. Marshal was reportedly destroyed in retaliation for standing up and defending a gay female Deputy U.S. Marshal who was allegedly being targeted with physical assault, sexual harassment, and other unlawful discriminatory conduct by certain officers in the workplace. SDUSM Ledogar’s honorable actions and subsequent termination appear at the very least to be a WHISTLE – BLOWER VIOLATION.
SDUSM Ledogar defended this female deputy publicly and repeatedly when she was allegedly bullied and harassed with reputed sexist remarks and other obscene and discriminatory behavior by certain members of the USMS’s New York-New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force. SDUSM Ledogar reportedly confronted some of the perpetrators directly, and after he intervened on the deputy’s behalf with the Task Force’s supervisor, one of the Task Force members reportedly shoved her during the execution of a fugitive warrant in a manner that was so frightening and disturbing that she began to fear for her life.
In addition to reporting the incident, SDUSM Ledogar reassigned the deputy from the Task Force for her own safety, supported her in filing complaints, and pressed for an internal investigation. He ultimately corroborated the deputies accounts and detailed the Task Force members’ misconduct during multiple investigatory interviews under oath.
Over the next four-and-a-half years, however, SDUSM Ledogar was made the target of at least four Internal Affairs investigations and subjected to a half-dozen interviews, all concerning allegations fabricated by the very officers whose alleged misconduct he had documented. It appears the baselessness of these allegations was patently obvious and known to the agency with three of the investigations being ruled unsubstantiated. However, the agency ultimately terminated SDUSM Ledogar from service just two months shy of his eligibility for retirement with full benefits.
The injustice of the agency’s retaliation against SDUSM Ledogar is amplified by the fact that he spent his career dedicated to public service and to protecting the community and the country. Prior to joining the United States Marshal Service (USMS) in 1995, SDUSM Ledogar served approximately seven years in the United States Navy, including service in combat zones in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. Once his military service ended, he was recruited by the USMS where he ultimately rose to the rank of Supervisory Deputy United States Marshal.
In addition to losing his career and retirement benefits, SDUSM Ledogar and his family have exhausted substantial financial resources and have suffered significant emotional distress in fighting the agency’s alleged retaliatory campaign against him. It is a very sad state of affairs when the people we hold to a standard of honor and integrity are punished for exemplifying those same standards within the agencies tasked with our protection and wellbeing.
In light of this injustice, the NPDF established the, “SDUSM Robert Ledogar Legal Defense Fund” to help support his legal efforts in order to challenge his unjust termination.