A Catoosa County, Ga., 911 dispatcher received a call, wrote down a man's name, wrote down his address, wrote down his medical issue - and sent all the information to her cousins.
The dispatcher, Holly Dowis, said the message to her family members was supposed to be a joke. They often send work information to each other, just to show how crazy their days can seem. The medical issue seemed funny, and she thought the message would stay among the group.
"I made a mistake trusting my family," she said Friday afternoon, seven weeks after she sent the message, four days after her boss found out and six hours after she got fired.
Dowis said her cousin's husband used the message to exact revenge Monday, though she maintains revenge was unnecessary. Family members accused her of ratting her cousin out to the police, which she denies.
On Friday, after her boss learned about the message and launched an internal investigation, Catoosa County Manager Jim Walker fired Dowis. He said she violated the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act by exposing the caller's private medical information to her family members.
She also was fired for violating three county policies: one that deals with a general ethical code for public officials, another about releasing confidential information, and another about how county employees use their privileged access to information.
Walker will give the investigative file to the Catoosa County Sheriff's Office and let them decide whether Dowis violated any criminal laws. He said Dowis sent her family members the message on Dec. 23, but county officials didn't find out about it until this week.
"We've done our due diligence and come full circle," Walker said.
Dowis said her problems began Monday, when she was working at the 911 center located inside the Catoosa County Courthouse. She said her cousins were in court that day for a civil matter. One of those cousins happened to have an active warrant out against her from the Chickamauga Police Department for contempt of court.
The warrant deals with a separate legal issue from her appearance in Catoosa County court this week. But somebody told the police where they could find her Monday, and officers picked her up on that warrant when she came to court.
Dowis said some family members believed she was the one who tipped off the police, seeing that she works inside the courthouse. But she said that isn't the case, that she didn't know about the warrant.
Nevertheless, she said, the husband of her arrested cousin then called Emergency Management 911 Director Doug Flury to tell him about that private message Dowis sent in December. Dowis said the husband also tracked down the man whose information she had exposed to tell him what happened.
Flury then reviewed the message, interviewed the cousins and met with the man whose information had been exposed. Asked about Dowis' version of how all this information came out, Flury declined comment because the case is still under investigation.
But by Wednesday, Flury and Walker agreed to put Dowis on administrative leave. On Friday, after consulting with the county's human resources director, Walker fired Dowis.
Walker said Dowis was disciplined in 2014 for taking a picture, but that was a minor offense. She was photographing herself, and the dispatch screen just happened to be in the background. County officials decided she merely needed remedial training.
On Friday, Dowis said she actually sent three pictures with dispatch information, but only one contained medical details. The information from the other two pictures would have been an open record anyway.
"I'm sorry for violating his rights," she said of the man who information she exposed to her family members. "I didn't know it was going to be brought to his attention or anybody's attention. I wouldn't want him to be hurt that way."
Shawn Dowis, her husband and a former school resource officer for the sheriff's office, added, "Communications officers, law enforcement, EMTs - they need some place to go. Everybody has a laugh at somebody's expense at some time. You keep it within people that aren't going to share it with others. They need somebody to vent to. If they don't, they'll go nuts."
Holly Dowis became a dispatcher in 2007 because she wanted to be in law enforcement but didn't think she could handle the life of an officer. She said she loved the job. She could recognize officers by their voices and built a rapport.
Several law enforcement sources told the Times Free Press that among officers she was considered one of the best dispatchers, and in 2013, she said, the Catoosa County Sheriff's Office named her communications officer of the year. She said she had the right instincts, knew how to stay calm and could talk officers through emergencies.
Now she believes she will have to find a new line of work.
"I don't want people to feel unsafe [calling 911]," she said. "But I have done good. I have saved people's lives. I've done good for the community."
Contact staff writer Tyler Jett at tjett@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6476.