Troy Pumphrey files complaint with Florida Bar against Manatee School Board member Dave 'Watchdog' Miner

BRADENTON -- Troy Pumphrey, the now-suspended professional standards investigator for the Manatee County School District, has filed a complaint with the Florida Bar about Manatee Coutny School Board member Dave "Watchdog" Miner.

In a letter dated Jan. 26 sent to bar counsel Charles Hughes, and obtained through a public records request, Pumphrey recounts actions Miner has taken against him and said Miner has tried and

convicted him in the public arena.

"Had he merely afforded me my legal rights of due process, this would be a moot point, but he did not and as the record continues to show, he will not back off his repeated and continued attacks against me," Pumphrey wrote in the five-page letter.

Miner, an attorney, publicly began calling for Pumphrey's resignation in October, saying Pumphrey lied on his resume about having a class C/MA license -- which deals with being a private investigator in Florida -- when he applied to work for the school district.

Pumphrey applied for the license but never received one from the state. During a news conference in October, Miner said he urged Superintendent Rick Mills to ask Pumphrey to resign and has been vocal about the issue at board meetings and public events since October.

Mills did not ask Pumphrey to resign, but he did suspend him with pay in mid-January after an anonymous package was delivered to the district. The contents of the package have not been made public, but by his own admission the information is from a 1997 case, which was expunged and sealed in 2008. When applying to the district, Pumphrey said his attorney advised him he did not have to disclose the information.

Pumphrey also has a pending lawsuit against the district, the school board and Miner personally. The lawsuit is in the county clerk system, although the district has yet to be formally served. Miner had no comment on the complaint, according to the administrative assistant at his law office.

This story was originally published February 5, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Troy Pumphrey files complaint with Florida Bar against Manatee School Board member Dave 'Watchdog' Miner ."