All 44 charges dropped against former deputy Daniel Wilkey

Special prosecutor asks court to drop the charges, defense says they should never have been filed

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – All criminal charges have been dropped against former Hamilton County deputy Daniel Wilkey.

A grand jury had indicted him on a total of 44 charges from multiple cases.

But the one that sticks in most people’s minds involves when he baptised a woman in the lake to avoid a drug charge.

The other charges included rape, sexual battery, and stalking against other alleged victims.

But those were brought by former District Attorney General Neal Pinkston’s Office.

Current DA Coty Wamp recused herself from the case because she worked for the Sheriff’s office on Wilkey issues.

So it was a special prosecutor today who asked the court to drop all of the charges, saying they could not prosecute them.

Wilkey resigned from the Sheriff’s Office more than three years ago.

Attorney Ben Gowan who represented Wilkey in court issued this statement on today’s decision.

“The Wilkey family is grateful for the honest, disciplined, and thorough investigation undertaken by the special prosecutor in this case. His findings, through painstaking analysis of the evidence, corroborate what we have maintained since the beginning: that the former district attorney’s criminal charges against Mr. Wilkey were factually unfounded and should never have been filed.”