Former jail deputy pleads guilty to crimes involving two different female victims

Submitted by the Erie County District Attorney’s Office

Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn announced 42-year-old Robert M. Dee of Eden pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon before State Supreme Court Justice Deborah A. Haendiges to one count of official misconduct and one count of criminal contempt in the second degree (class “A” misdemeanors).

Between March 19, 2019 and May 29, 2019, the defendant, while working as a jail deputy for the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, failed to report inappropriate conduct with a female inmate. While she was incarcerated at the Erie County Holding Center, the defendant solicited and received the female inmate’s phone number. After she was released from custody, the defendant called the former inmate by phone, knowingly in violation of protocol that requires a deputy to report contact with a former inmate.

On Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022, at approximately 8:54 p.m., Erie County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the defendant’s home in the Town of Eden after receiving a 911 call. The deputies found another female victim inside the defendant’s home. An order of protection had been issued after a prior incident, which prohibited the defendant from having any contact with the victim.

Dee was fired from his position with the Erie County Sheriff’s Office in May 2022. As a condition of his guilty plea yesterday, Dee signed an official resignation letter and agreed to not seek arbitration regarding his employment with the Erie County Sheriff’s Office.

Dee faces a maximum of one year in jail when he is sentenced on Monday, July 24. He remains released on previously posted bail.

DA Flynn commends the Erie County Sheriff’s Office and the Eden Police Department for their work in these investigations.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Noha A. Elnakib of the major crimes unit and Chief Gary M. Ertel of the special investigations and prosecutions unit and public integrity unit.