Eric Dowdle, the former first assistant district attorney of Lehigh County, testified Friday that he was made a scapegoat when the case against a former Allentown police officer accused of rape began to unravel last year.
“I was convinced that I was going to be blamed, and here we are,” he said.
Dowdle, who was first assistant under District Attorney Gavin Holihan from January 2024 until Oct. 31, 2025, was called as a defense witness for Jason Krasley, a former vice officer who is awaiting trial for sex crimes that he allegedly committed while on the force between 2011 and 2015.
Prosecutors say Krasley coerced sex workers into performing sexual acts in order to avoid arrest. He was also charged with stealing drug money, but theft charges were later dismissed.
Krasley, 49, of Upper Milford Township, denies the charges. He is free on bail.
Krasley is seeking to have all charges dismissed due to prosecutorial misconduct. His attorney says Dowdle’s prior work as a defense attorney, as well as conversations Dowdle supposedly had with other Allentown police officers about a whistleblower suit they filed, created a conflict of interest.
Dowdle denied that he had a conflict, but said he believed others in his office did. He said he learned shortly after he was assigned Krasley’s case that there were people working with him who knew about crimes involving Allentown police officers but didn’t act. He didn’t name the people, but said he reported his concerns to Holihan.
“I told Attorney Holihan that we had a major problem on our hands,” he said. “I felt the conflict was that my office was covering up an issue with the Allentown police.”
Dowdle said that he tried to hand the case off to another law enforcement agency to prosecute, but his efforts were stymied by staff changes at those agencies. Eventually, the state attorney general’s office took over.
During the hearing Friday, Krasley attorney James Burke complained repeatedly that Dowdle’s answers to his questions were “evasive,” and at one point moved to have Dowdle treated as a hostile witness. Lehigh County Judge Thomas M. Caffrey denied the request.
Holihan declined to comment Friday because of the ongoing investigation. He is scheduled to be called as a witness in the case next week.
Burke contends the case against Krasley is tainted by alleged prosecutorial misconduct and “egregious” errors in discovery. Several charges against Krasley and another Allentown police officer already have been dropped.