Ex-Army lieutenant colonel charged with collecting pay while in prison

Dennis Dockery is charged with first-degree larceny and two counts of second-degree forgery. (State Department of Corrections)

A former lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve was arrested Friday after officials said they learned he collected military paychecks while locked up in Kansas’ Fort Leavenworth prison for assault.

Dennis Dockery was charged with first-degree larceny by defrauding a public community and two counts of second-degree forgery, Military.com reported.

Dockery, 52, allegedly forged documents so it would appear he was serving at Fort Leavenworth instead of sitting behind bars there. A military reservist, Dockery was entitled to a portion of his state salary while activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom – but he would have had to forfeit the benefit if it was known he was imprisoned.

Dockery served 17 months at Leavenworth – from September 2011 to October 2012 – after being found guilty of assaulting a woman while on active duty and engaging in two inappropriate relationships with subordinates while serving a tour in Iraq from July 2009 to April 2010. He was also dismissed from the military as a result of the court-martial, FOX61 reported.

But during the prison sentence, authorities allege Dockery still unlawfully collected $5,182 in state salary.

After his stint at Leavenworth, Dockery worked at the Department of Correction. But the Army received a tip about the allegedly fraudulent payments and began investigating him. Dockery was fired by the Department of Correction on May 27, four days before he was set to retire.