A missing wallet inside Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management has now turned into something far more serious than an office misunderstanding, after a city watchdog investigation concluded that six employees abused their authority and crossed the legal line into felony-level conduct, according to a FOX 5 Atlanta report.
The case, as described in the report from City Hall, began with a supervisor saying her wallet was missing and ended with the city’s Interim Inspector General determining that what happened next met the elements of false imprisonment, a finding that has fueled outrage and raised the possibility of criminal scrutiny.
FOX 5’s coverage frames it as a major internal reckoning, not only because of the alleged actions themselves, but because the names involved include managers and investigators inside the department – people whose jobs carry power, access, and the ability to direct others.
A Missing Wallet Sets Off A Chain Of Events
The report says the flashpoint was a wallet that went missing, and the supervisor at the center of it was DeValory Donahue, who later became a manager in the same operation.
What followed, as laid out in the investigative summary, was not described as a quick check, a polite request, or a normal workplace dispute resolution. Instead, the report details a scenario where workers say they were ordered into a conference room and kept there for hours while leadership tried to determine what happened to the wallet…