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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was convinced that I was going to be blamed, and here we are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Krasley, 49, of Upper Milford Township, denies the charges. He is free on bail.<\/p>\n
Krasley is seeking to have all charges dismissed due to prosecutorial misconduct. His attorney says Dowdle\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s case that there were people working with him who knew about crimes involving Allentown police officers but didn\u2019t act. He didn\u2019t name the people, but said he reported his concerns to Holihan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told Attorney Holihan that we had a major problem on our hands,\u201d he said. \u201cI felt the conflict was that my office was covering up an issue with the Allentown police.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s office took over.<\/p>\n
During the hearing Friday, Krasley attorney James Burke complained repeatedly that Dowdle\u2019s answers to his questions were \u201cevasive,\u201d and at one point moved to have Dowdle treated as a hostile witness. Lehigh County Judge Thomas M. Caffrey denied the request.<\/p>\n
Holihan declined to comment Friday because of the ongoing investigation. He is scheduled to be called as a witness in the case next week.<\/p>\n