The Cook County state's attorney has subpoenaed both the Stroger administration and the former county employee at the center of a hiring scandal.

The subpoena, delivered to the jailed ex-employee, Tony Cole, indicates the investigation is being handled by the county's financial crimes division, part of the Cook County State's Attorney's special prosecutions bureau, the department that investigates public corruption.

Cole, currently jailed on a misdemeanor domestic case, refused Monday to discuss in depth with a reporter the series of events that led to his hiring and termination or his relationships with Cook County Board President Todd Stroger, the county's former Chief Financial Officer Donna Dunnings or county spokesman Eugene Mullins.

Mullins, however, confirmed that the administration has received subpoenas as part of a state's attorney's investigation, but he claimed he did not know what the office was investigating. The subpoenas are in the possession of Laura Lechowicz Felicione, special counsel to Stroger, Mullins said.

Lechowicz Felicione acknowledged the county has received the subpoenas.

"However the issuing body has directed the county not to disclose the substance of the subpoenas due to the concern that such disclosure could impede its investigation," she said.

Mullins also declined to comment further.

"The administration can't comment on an ongoing investigation," he said.

Cole showed a reporter a subpoena he received. It bore the words "a John Doe investigation" and the name of an assistant Cook County State's attorney who works in the financial crimes division. That division falls under the special prosecutions bureau, which State's Attorney Anita Alvarez beefed up as part of a campaign pledge, placing it under the direction of former U.S. Attorney Jack Blakey.

Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for Alvarez, refused to confirm or deny the existence of an investigation.

Richard Kling, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law and a practicing defense attorney, said the state's attorney's office often uses the term "a John Doe investigation" when it doesn't want to disclose who it's investigating.

While state's attorneys are prohibited from contacting Cole about the domestic case because he has a lawyer in that case, they are not prohibited from questioning him about other cases, Kling said.

Cole, 29, of Chicago, was working as a busboy when Stroger hired him as an aide to Dunnings, Stroger's cousin. Cole later was arrested on a domestic battery charge in DuPage County, accused of punching his girlfriend in the face. He pleaded guilty and paid a fine, but was rearrested when he was accused of violating an order of protection the woman had obtained. Dunnings and Mullins once both showed up to bail him out, although it was Dunnings who actually posted the money.

Last week, Domestic Court Judge James Patrick Murphy affirmed a $200,000 bond for Cole on the order of protection case, expressing concern that Cole did not answer his door on several occasions when probation officers visited him at home, as conditions of his bond required him to do.

Noting the unusually high bond for a misdemeanor case, Cole maintained in his interview with the Daily Herald that he's being railroaded over a larger issue, but he would not elaborate, saying "you know what it is."

He said he may talk later but for now wants to speak only to the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jackson could not be reached for comment.

Cole's bond was revoked, ostensibly, for failing to answer the door when probation officers visited him at home while he was on home confinement. But Cole claims that doesn't add up, noting that prosecutors contend there were such episodes before his termination, and he wasn't re-arrested on those. It was only after he was fired by the county April 9 that he was taken into custody, Cole noted. He said he feels county administrators did not want him talking to the media.

Cole said the bond should not have been as high as it was, given that he was employed and in school working toward a degree in human resources management. Because he's in jail and can't attend classes, he noted, he's now failing those classes.

Cole called jail life "dehumanizing," noting that he hasn't showered or changed clothes since he was incarcerated on April 14.

Cook County officials initially said they fired Cole after they received a report showing he failed to inform them of a conviction related to battery and disorderly conduct charges in Georgia. But pressed for details, administrators later admitted they'd had such information for months before firing Cole.

Cole was fired April 9, the day before a scheduled newspaper story on his criminal background was set to run.

After firing Cole, Stroger asked for and received Dunnings' resignation about a week later. Stroger at the time said he asked for the resignation because Cole was prepared to make "explosive" allegations against Dunnings, but ones he didn't believe were true. However, Stroger said, the controversy would have compromised her ability to do her job, so he asked her to step down anyway. Stroger refused to detail the nature of the allegations. Dunnings and Stroger could not be reached for comment Monday.