Dover – Police so doubted 1st District congressional candidate Gary Dodds’ account of his April 5 car crash that they were pursuing possible charges of theft of services, false alarms and falsifying evidence when they executed a search warrant against him last month.

Judge Stephen Morrison of Dover District Court unsealed the search warrant and its accompanying affidavit late yesterday afternoon in response to motions filed by numerous media outlets, including the New Hampshire Union Leader.

A Department of Safety prosecutor representing state police, who originally sealed the warrant, raised no objections to it being unsealed.

“We fully support the police investigating fully,” Gary Dodds’ wife, Cindy, told the Union Leader yesterday in response to the warrant being unsealed. “He had an accident, nothing more.”

In a statement posted on his campaign Web site Tuesday, Dodds described efforts to unseal the court files as a “politically motivated witch hunt” and accused the media of distorting the truth about his accident.

“It’s an election year, and I think it’s interesting timing that warrants a month old are now front page news. We are going to review this new information and will have a statement for the public later this week,” he said.

The affidavit, written by lead investigator state police Sgt. Richard Mitchell, said there were numerous inconsistencies between Dodds’ account of his crash and recovery and the physical evidence and witness testimony.

Dodds’ E-ZPass transponder recorded his Lincoln Continental traveling south through the Dover tolls on the Spaulding Turnpike at 7:39 the night of his accident. The crash happened at 8:17 p.m. while Dodds was heading south — north of the Dover tolls. The E-ZPass transponder was not used again after 7:39 p.m.

When Dodds was found, his feet were soaking wet to the point of having to pour water out of his shoes, but the rest of his body was relatively dry, police said, calling into question whether or not he had swum across the river as claimed.

The search warrant was executed to obtain Dodds’ socks and shoes from the night of the accident for testing. Testing showed they had been in the river. Why his clothes were dry, but his shoes wet, remains a mystery.

“I asked Dodds if he could taste the salt in the water he swam across,” reads the affidavit. “Dodds responded to us with a question, ‘That’s not salt water there, is it?’ I explained the brackish water and tidal changes to Dodds, who responded that he could not taste the salt in the water.”

While Dodds told police he ran across the Bellamy River following his crash, a neighbor nearby said she was outside smoking at the time and didn’t see anyone cross the river.

A Fish and Game officer also said the spot where Dodds was found did not have an indentation consistent with a person lying there for more than 24 hours as Dodds claims.

Dodds had frostbite on his feet when he was found but not his fingers or his face, as would have been expected, the affidavit reads. The affidavit also says Dodds’ wife, Cindy, told police that doctors wanted him to leave the hospital just a day after the accident. He remained hospitalized until April 14.

Mitchell also wrote in the affidavit that Dodds’ car wasn’t damaged as it would’ve been in a high-speed crash and there was little evidence he had hit his head. The affidavit says the car was damaged only on the lower front end. The seatbelt had been stretched to indicate Dodds was wearing it at the time of the accident. There was also no blood found in the car.

“There is no evidence the driver struck their head on anything inside the vehicle,” Mitchell wrote.

Dodds was nowhere to be found when a driver who witnessed the crash stopped her car to help. The other car’s driver said Dodd’s car looked empty when it ran off the road.

The affidavit also says Dodds’ campaign treasurer received a letter in March informing him he had not properly filed the campaign’s financial disclosure forms. A response was due April 13.

“As of April 28, 2006 those amendments had not been filed with the (Federal Election Commission),” the affidavit reads.

►Former top aide says Dodds' campaign was distracted by inappropriate relationship with worker