Annapolis Police spokesperson Miguel Dennis was charged with harassment in August after an unredacted police report was released and sent to clients of a city-based marketing firm, according to court records.

Dennis, who has worked in law enforcement across the state for decades, is a civilian employee of the Annapolis Police Department. He has not been arrested for the misdemeanor charge and is still employed by the city, Deputy Police Chief Stan Brandford said Thursday.

According to the Maryland Judiciary, a criminal summons, which notifies a defendant of when to appear in court, was issued for Dennis. As of Thursday afternoon, it had not been served.

The harassment charge was filed Aug. 25 in Glen Burnie District Court by John White, the chief executive officer of Compass Marketing, a multimillion-dollar family business engulfed for years in court battles between its founding brothers.

White’s grievance with the department and the city government centers around a police report involving him from nearly two years ago. According to documents shared with the Capital Gazette, White called city police on Nov. 30, 2022, and said he was blocked by a white van in a parking lot in Eastport and pursued by an unknown man through a shopping center.

At the time, White told officers he was involved in a federal lawsuit and that the man in the parking lot was sent to intimidate him. The police report does not mention which lawsuit White is referring to, though earlier that year, White accused his brothers, Dan and Michael White, of fraudulent behavior at Compass in federal court.

Officers canvassed the area and did not find anything, according to the incident report. When they returned days later to review surveillance footage, they did not see any vehicles matching White’s descriptions or White himself.

John White’s racketeering case was thrown out in 2023, court records show, and though he appealed the decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the dismissal. John White has moved for a rehearing, according to court records.

Requests for the parking lot incident report, including by the Capital Gazette, produced a redacted version blocking White’s name and the names of shopping center employees.

However, an unredacted version accessed by Dennis was sent to several of White’s clients at Compass Marketing, including 14 senior executives at the Campbell Soup Company, according to charging documents. The emails, sent from an encrypted Proton Mail user, claimed White had falsely reported a kidnap attempt and resulted in some of Compass’ clients terminating their contracts with the firm.

On Thursday, White wrote in a text message that his company is losing $250,000 annually as a result of the anonymous emails.

In June, an internal review by Annapolis Police found Dennis had violated department policy and sustained White’s complaint against him. On Thursday, Brandford, the city’s deputy police chief, said the department did not know who Dennis gave the report to.

White charged Dennis with harassment through a district court commissioner. In Maryland, citizens may attempt to file charges against someone in a district court. However, a charge will be filed only after a commissioner determines there is enough probable cause to try the case.

If a police agency files charges against someone, a jurisdiction’s state’s attorney’s office will automatically pick up the case. However, with civilian complaints, prosecutors will screen it before moving forward.

According to a criminal investigation conducted by the department that was ultimately closed, police detectives and members of the department’s command staff advised White that his allegations “did not meet the definition of Harassment, or any other crime, as set forth by Maryland Law.”

In a statement Thursday, Annapolis Police Chief Ed Jackson described the release of the unredacted incident report as a “mistake” and said he does “not believe the actions of Mr. Dennis rise to the level of criminal behavior.” He said Dennis has undergone “appropriate re-training” in handling records.

White wrote in his text Thursday he does “not have any plans” to sue the Annapolis City government or Dennis.

Baltimore Sun reporter Dan Belson contributed.