Fatal Shooting Blamed on Florida Sheriff

INVERNESS, Fla. (CN) - An undercover drug informant was shot to death after a Florida sheriff kept using her to do drug deals after her cover was blown, the woman's family claims in court.

Wendy Moore sued Citrus County Sheriff Jeffrey Dawsy for the wrongful death of her daughter, Jamie Lee Seeger, in Citrus County Court.

Dawsy allowed Seeger's name to become public during a trial, then continued to use her to buy drugs to set up busts, despite her complaints that doing so could get her killed, the mother claims in the lawsuit.

According to the complaint, Seeger, 27, worked as an undercover informant for the sheriff's office in 2012 and bought drugs under their supervision.

While doing so, Seeger was placed on probation for an unrelated offense and was ordered not to engage in criminal activities or associate with known criminals. But her mother claims that the sheriff's office told her daughter: "Don't worry about it. We can get around that," and continued to have her do drug deals.

Seeger told her case managers at the sheriff's office that she was scared and that her identity as an informant had been blown during discovery in a drug prosecution. But once again Dawsy's agents informed her that it would be fine and that they would tell her when she needed to get out, the complaint states.

One week before Seeger's death, she told officers once more that she was scared and had began receiving threats. She was told that she would be fine and her requests for protection were denied, her mother says.

During her next controlled drug purchase, Seeger was shot to death.

Before the shooting, Moore was with Seeger because of the recent threats, but the drug dealers changed the location at the last minute and asked her to come alone. Seeger dropped her mother off at a convenience store and never returned.

Moore claims Dawsy's agents were or should have been monitoring the deal and were negligent in allowing Seeger to be murdered.

She claims the sheriff's office falsely assured her daughter of her safety and allowed her to participate in high-risk operations, and that it breached its duty when it failed to act with reasonable care before and during the drug operation.

Moore says she asked the sheriff's office to get her daughter help because she had become addicted to pain meds after a 2010 car accident. She claims the case manager told her they would help Seeger when the drug arrests were done.

She seeks damages for wrongful death, medical and funeral expenses, and for loss of consortium for her daughter's husband and two children.

Moore is represented by William Grant, of Inverness.

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