Did Millersville detective commit perjury about child-predator investigation?

In an explosive new development that could bring new trouble for the already-troubled Millersville Police Department, a key player in a child-predator sting says the lead detective on that operation lied under oath.

These latest questions follow the revelation of secret recordings obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates from that child-predator sting back in May that, our investigation discovered, do not match the detective's sworn testimony in the case.

Appearing for a preliminary hearing, Millersville Detective Todd Dorris raised his right hand and swore to tell "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

"So help you God?” the judge asked.

"Yes, sir," Dorris replied.

Authorities say the suspect, Henry Dean Jordan, had bicycled up I-65 from Nashville apparently thinking he was going to have sex with a 12-year-old girl he had met online.

State law makes it illegal to solicit sex from a minor or a law enforcement officer posing online as a minor.

Deputy district attorney Jason White questioned Dorris about his role in that sting.

"When you say you created it, who was doing the typing … in the app? Who was putting information into the app?"

"I was," Dorris answered.

During the testimony, Detective Dorris said that members of a non-profit group, Veterans for Child Rescue, helped advise them during the sting.

But he swore under oath that he and Detective Mike Candler were the ones doing the posing.

"You and the other detective actually did all the typing and all the data entry. They just advised certain things to say and so forth?" the prosecutor asked.

"Yes, sir," Dorris insisted.

Listen to detective's testimony in player below:

NC5PhilWilliams · Detective Todd Dorris testifies about child-predator sting

We played the detective's testimony for Kim Kelley.

She dramatically raised her eyebrows as Dorris denied that members of the non-profit group ever sent any message.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates followed up. "Your face speaks volumes. What's your reaction?"

"It does not represent the truth of what really happened during that operation," Kelley said.

"How do you know?"

"I was there."

Bryan Staples/WTVF

We followed up, "You were the one actually chatting with the suspect?"

"Yes."

Kim Kelley worked with that non-profit group, Veterans for Child Rescue. In fact, she posted a video about her efforts after the sting was done.

Kelley had also secretly recorded parts of that operation after some associates warned that some of what she was being asked to do might not be legal — and Millersville's conspiracy-minded assistant police chief, Shawn Taylor, initially confirmed her concerns.

She had questioned whether she was allowed to pose as a minor, attempting to nail the sick individuals who might reach out to someone they thought was a child.

"So we just talked to our D.A.," Taylor said in a follow-up call. "And, so, with the Tennessee state law, it says that the officer has to do the actual typing, that with our law it says it has to be a law enforcement officer posing as a minor."

Listen to recording excerpt in player below:

NC5PhilWilliams · Shawn Taylor On Child Predator Sting Protocols

But when she got to Millersville, the recordings show, Taylor's plans had changed.

"We were told that, as long as we had one of the two detectives in the room with us as chatters — meaning people who were not law enforcement texting pervs — as long as we had one of these two detectives with us in the room, that that was allowed."

NewsChannel 5 Investigates followed up, "Did he explain why he had changed his tune?"

"They just said that that was the way that it was authorized."

Remember state law says it has to be law enforcement posing as the minors — which is exactly what Detective Dorris told the judge they did.

"They just advised certain things to say and so forth?" prosecutor Jason White asked.

"Yes, sir," Dorris agreed.

"You either took their advice or didn’t take their advice?"

"Yes, sir."

Kelley's reaction?

"This was us, not law enforcement, individuals who care setting up profiles on these apps — not dating apps, not dark web apps, but apps on the internet — setting up a profile and just being inundated with predators flooding our inboxes."

And Kelley's video confirms her story that she and her fellow volunteers were doing the chatting.

Watch excerpt from secretly recorded video in the player below:

Secret recordings from inside child predator sting shows police ignoring laws

At one point, she asked the detectives, "I need to know what you'll need so that I can work up to that. You know what I mean?"

"Well, as much as you can," one answered.

And while the detectives were there for advice, Kelley said the chatters were pretty much on their own.

NewsChannel 5 Investigates asked, "Were the officers watching over your shoulder, supervising what you were typing?"

"The majority of the time that we were doing that," she explained, "Todd or Mike were there in the room with us but, no, they were not standing over our shoulder assisting us."

But remember Dorris told the court that the detectives did everything — including picking the AI-generated profile pic for what was supposed to be a 12-year-old girl.

Defense attorney Jody Dorris (no relation) asked the detective, "And was that picture suggested by the veteran group, non-profit group?"

"No, I actually picked that one out myself," Detective Dorris insisted.

Kim Kelley was shocked.

"It's a picture of me, using a filter to make it look a child."

Bryan Staples/WTVF

In truth, Kelley said, the detective had nothing to do with any of that.

"Did Detective Dorris create the account?" we asked.

"No."

"Did he pick the profile pic?"

"No."

"Did he ever send any of the messages to this suspect?"

"No."

NewsChannel 5 continued. "So everything you heard there was a lie?"

"Yes."

Reached by telephone Monday, Detective Dorris declined to comment when told that the story would raise the question of whether he had committed perjury.

"Mr. Williams, I have no comment at this time," he said. "I'm not getting involved in this right now. Thank you for giving me a call though and offering but, no, sir, no comment at this time. Thank you. Have a good day."

At that point, Dorris hung up.

But that wasn't the only red flag for Kim Kelley.

In at least one case, Kelley said, they had a potential predator who had driven to the area, but then they just lost him.

"You have eyes on them — how do you lose them?" she recalled. "I was also told they were unable to make the arrest because they didn't have a siren on the car."

"Didn't have a siren?" we asked.

"I was like, 'Make a sound with your mouth!' What does that mean?"

Then, there was another detective's admission about what happened when the one suspect was arrested and told police he didn't want to talk.

"I just walked out, and y'all's little camera crew went in and starting asking questions — and he just gave everything up," Detective Mike Candler told Kelley and another woman in one of the secret recordings.

Kelley followed up, "The camera crew went in? Is that...?"

"It's fine," Candler said. "We didn't prompt them, we didn't prompt them to ask any questions. We didn't have them do anything. It was unsolicited, and he just started what we call spontaneous utterance -- just laying it out there."

A recording, obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, shows the man interviewing the suspect identified himself as "John."

Among those on the team: MAGA podcaster John Stubbins.

Watch excerpt from secretly recorded video in the player below:

Secret recording of film crew shows their discussion of interrogating a suspect

Kim Kelley recalled her reaction.

"I said, 'Huh? Is that normal? Is that allowed?"

We asked, "That struck you as being improper?"

"It struck me as strange."

"And it might jeopardize the case?"

"Possibly, among other things."

And this case — involving the suspect Henry Jordan — goes to the heart of Kelley's concerns with what she saw with Millersville, as well as with Veterans for Child Rescue.

"I believe from the reactions that I had with that predator on the internet, this man is harmful for children — and he should not be preying upon children in the way that I encountered him on the app," she explained.

Shawn Taylor and Craig Sawyer, the man who founded Veterans for Child Rescue, have claimed that their sting got enough evidence to arrest an additional 70 predators Kelley said, based on what she observed as one of the chatters, she doesn't think there is any way that number could be real.

Sadly, she doubts any of the sick individuals she encountered online in this operation — as well as other recent ones with Veterans for Child Rescue — will ever be brought to justice.

While stings like this may make headlines and help the non-profit raise money, she said the public isn't served when the people with the guns and badges don't follow the law.

"If you have to deceive and add other layers of deception to the operation, not only is that not sustainable, that's not effective," Kelley said. "You are supposed to be anti-corruption. You can't add more layers of corruption to try to fix a corrupt problem."

Related videos, stories:

Hate Comes to Main Street