Tag: oklahoma

Former TPD officer fails to appear in court on new sexual assault charge after initial rape charge from 2022

Tulsa Police announced Deangelo Reyes, a former Tulsa Police officer, has been charged with forcible sodomy.

This is an additional charge along with the first degree rape charge he goes to court for in March 2024. 

Reyes was first charged with rape in June of 2022 after he was accused of sexually assaulting someone while on duty. 

Police said they found an additional victim in the past few months bringing forth the new charge from an alleged incident back in July 2020.

Court records say the new victim was found by searching through phone records that revealed the alleged victim was disabled.

The victim suffered from major neuro cognitive disorder, secondary to severe traumatic brain injury, from a car accident that left her in a coma for three weeks.

Records indicate she was significantly disabled, functioning at a 5th to 6th grade level.

Court Records saying that she met Reyes while jogging where he asked for her phone number.

All while in police uniform, records allege that she would not want to have sex with Reyes and that the only way to get him to go away would be to give him sexual favors.

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Oklahoma teen testifies how a former pastor referenced the Bible during abuse

A teen who says she was sexually abused testified for almost two hours on Tuesday. She told the court how a former pastor would dialogue with her about biblical issues while allegedly abusing her.

Fred Gammon, Jr, 42, of Miami, is charged with child sexual abuse.  His trial in Ottawa County began its second day on Wednesday (11//29) before a 7-woman, 5-man jury.

At the time of the alleged abuse, Gammon was serving as Wayside Assembly of God pastor. 

The jury listened to prosecutor Chris Garner methodically question the teen as she outlined the abusive behavior that began when she was 15 years old, allegedly at the hands of Gammon. Three witnesses, including the teen, testified for the state on Tuesday.

The accuser, now 19 years old, is studying to be a missionary at a faith-based college..

“He would come into my bedroom and make small talk about the Bible while touching me,” the teen testified.

The alleged sexual abuse began after Gammon saw photographs of the teen wearing a bikini, according to the accuser’s testimony.

She said they were photographs sent to her boyfriend.

“He treated me differently – he was more interested in me,” according to her testimony.

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With Oklahoma’s Hemp Production ‘Way Down,’ Lawmakers Consider Benefits Of Expansion

Oklahoma legislators are studying whether industrial hemp production would benefit rural development in the state.

Growing hemp became legal in Oklahoma after Congress passed the 2018 Farm Bill, which removed industrial hemp from the Controlled Substances Act’s classification of marijuana and declassified hemp as a Schedule I narcotic.

While there was a lot of initial interest in 2018, Oklahoma has seen a decline in interest from potential growers since then, according to Kenny Naylor, the director of Consumer Affairs for the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture.

“Unfortunately our numbers have gone way down,” Naylor told the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Monday. “In 2018, everybody wanted to grow hemp.”

As of this year, Oklahoma has 21 licensed hemp growers and 22 licensed hemp processors.

Aside from a saturation of the CBD market and limited processing ability, which have both cooled the interest in growing hemp, according to Naylor, other factors were a matter of bad timing.

“I think COVID-19 hit right at the wrong time and shut everything down, and that definitely caused problems,” said Naylor. “And then for Oklahoma specifically, people switched to marijuana.”

It was initially cheaper to get licensed to grow medical marijuana, though Naylor said he doesn’t believe that is the case anymore.

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ATF Agents Carrying Rifles Raid Oklahoma Gun Dealer’s Home, Confiscate Guns

As agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) left Russell Fincher’s house with 50 legally-owned firearms and his freshly relinquished Federal Firearms License (FFL), they offered him a tip.

“They said, ‘Tell all your FFL friends we’re coming for them next,’” Mr. Fincher told The Epoch Times.

An ATF spokesman said he could not comment on the June 16, 2023, raid at Mr. Fincher’s home in Tuskahoma, Oklahoma.

“We are not allowed to comment pertaining to ongoing investigations. I can assure you once we can discuss the case, you will be notified,” Ashley N. Stephens, resident Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Tulsa Field Office, wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

According to Second Amendment advocacy groups, the raid indicates a coordinated effort by President Joe Biden’s administration to throttle legal gun sales to advance a gun control agenda.

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School defends hiring of drag queen arrested on child porn charges

Western Heights Public School District in Oklahoma is defending its decision to hire a drag queen who was arrested on child porn charges, the Daily Caller has learned.

Dr. Shane Brent Murnan, 52, was hired as an elementary school principal at John Glenn Elementary, the Substack V1sut first reported. In a Facebook post, Murnan celebrated a “new district and new respect,” according to the report. Murnan’s personal Facebook page appears to have since been deleted.

Murnan had his personal devices confiscated by police in 2001 on suspicion of possession of child pornography, according to V1sut. Then a fifth-grade teacher at Will Rogers Elementary School in Stillwater, Oklahoma, Murnan was arrested two weeks after the confiscation. Appeals Court Associate Judge Dave Allen said that it was “clear from a review of the pictures that they do represent child pornography,” The Oklahoman reported at the time.

Payne County District Judge Donald L. Worthington dismissed the charge against Murnan in August 2002, after Murnan’s attorneys said that he obtained the pictures by accident, and maintained that the age of the individuals in the photographs could not be proven, The Oklahoman reported. At the time, Murnan did lose his teaching job. Murnan’s record was expunged and the charges were dismissed after completing probation for a drug charge in October 2003, according to the Oklahoma State Courts Network.

Murnan became a school teacher at a rural Oklahoma school district in 2007, moving to an elementary school position at Oklahoma City Public Schools in 2016. Murnan worked as an assistant vice principal from 2020-2022 before his hiring as a principal.

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7 found dead in Oklahoma field during search for 2 missing teens

Seven bodies have been found on a property in Henryetta, Oklahoma, KOCO reported Monday.

The discovery was part of a search for two teenagers that had gone missing early Monday morning in eastern Oklahoma.

An alert went out Monday morning for 14-year-old Ivy Webster and 16-year-old Brittany Brewer, saying that it was believed they were with 39-year-old Jesse McFadden. The teens are believed to be among the bodies found, though identities have not yet been confirmed.

The Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that deputies took the missing persons report that revealed Webster left during Saturday evening, April 29 to spend the weekend with a friend. She was set to be home by 5 p.m. on Sunday, April 30. She never returned home.

“Webster was reported to be staying with 39-year-old Jesse McFadden, who, along with two other family members, were believed to be heading to McAlester to work on a ranch,” the report said. But no one from the family went to the ranch and there hadn’t been any contact with them since Sunday.

Brewer was picked up along the way on Saturday evening.

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Oklahoma sheriff, commissioner, accused of discussing killing a reporter and returning to Black hangings

In southeast Oklahoma, the sheriff of McCurtain County, one of his investigators and a county commissioner are accused by a newspaper of discussing to kill a local reporter and lamenting that modern justice no longer includes hanging Black people. 

The explosive accusations were published this week in the McCurtain Gazette-News.

According to the newspaper, Sheriff Kevin Clardy, investigator Alicia Manning and District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings were part of an impromptu discussion after the March 6 meeting of the county Board of Commissioners. 

The Gazette reported that it is in possession of the full audio recording of the discussion. The FBI and the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office also have copies of the recording, according to the newspaper.

A portion of the audio recordings were released online over the weekend, and while the audio matched some of the quoted material in the story, The Oklahoman could not identify who the speakers were in the recordings.

None of the allegedly recorded individuals could immediately be reached for comment.

Chris Willingham is the reporter for the Gazette who was discussed in recordings. He is also the author of the article.

Willingham declined to comment on the story, citing ongoing litigation between himself and the sheriff’s office.

During the discussion, which was recorded without the trio knowing, the Gazette reported Manning saying she needed to take some packages to a shipping center near the newspaper’s office. 

She expressed concern about what could happen if Willingham walked out of the newspaper’s office, according to the newspaper. 

According to the Gazette, Willingham that day had filed a defamation lawsuit against the sheriff’s office, Manning and the Board of County Commissioners. 

The lawsuit claims were published in the Gazette about three months ago when the initial tort claim was filed, according to the newspaper’s report.

“Oh, you’re talking about you can’t control yourself?” Jennings allegedly said.

In response, Manning allegedly said:

“Yeah, I ain’t worried about what he’s gonna do to me. I’m worried about what I might do to him. My papaw would have whipped his ass, would have wiped him and used him for toilet paper … if my daddy hadn’t been run over by a vehicle, he would have been down there.”

Jennings replied that his 86-year-old father, in response to an opinion published in the newspaper, once “started to go down there and just kill him,” according to the Gazette.

“I know where two big, deep holes are here if you ever need them,” Jennings allegedly said. 

Clardy, the sheriff, allegedly said he had the equipment. 

“I’ve got an excavator,” Clardy is accused of saying during the discussion.

“Well, these are already pre-dug,” Jennings allegedly said. 

Jennings allegedly talked about knowing hitmen in Louisiana who could “cut no (expletive) mercy.”

A brief discussion about assaulting local judges followed, according to the Gazette. 

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Oklahoma Bill Would Create State Process to End Police Qualified Immunity

A bill introduced in the Oklahoma House would create a process to sue police officers and government officials in state court for the deprivation of individual rights without the possibility of “qualified immunity” as a defense.

Rep. Regina Goodwin (D) prefiled House Bill 1631 (HB1631) for introduction on Feb. 6. The legislation would create a cause of action in state courts to sue a police officer who “under color of law, subjects or causes to be subjected, including failing to intervene, any other person to the deprivation of any individual rights that create binding obligations on government actors secured by the Bill of Rights, Article II of the Oklahoma Constitution.”

The bill specifically prohibits “qualified immunity” as a defense.

Typically, people sue police for using excessive force or other types of misconduct through the federal court system under the U.S. Bill of Rights. But federal courts created a qualified immunity defense out of thin air, making it nearly impossible to hold law enforcement officers responsible for actions taken in the line of duty. In order to move ahead with a suit, the plaintiff must establish that it was “clearly established” that the officer’s action was unconstitutional. The “clearly established” test erects an almost insurmountable hurdle to those trying to prove excessive force or a violation of their rights.

In effect, the passage of HB1631 would create an alternative path to address violations of rights in state court with no qualified immunity hurdle to clear.

A similar law was passed in Colorado.

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Top prosecutor in Payne and Logan counties arrested after child pornography investigation

The first assistant district attorney of Payne and Logan counties was arrested Monday after his apartment was searched as a result of a child pornography investigation.

Kevin Etherington, 53, was being held Tuesday in the Payne County jail on a child pornography complaint and a computer crimes complaint. His bail was set at $500,000.

His boss, District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas, announced after his arrest that he had been fired.

“I cannot express how dismayed and disappointed I am about this development,” she said Monday night.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation disclosed the arrest in a news release. The OSBI said agents from its Internet Crimes Against Children unit conducted the search of his Stillwater residence.

In requesting the search, an OSBI agent reported about 153 videos and photos depicting child sexual exploitation were identified within his Google account.

Google notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about “suspected sexual abuse material” linked to Etherington on July 26, the agent reported. The center then forwarded 14 cybertips to the OSBI on Sept. 1, according to the news release.

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The mysterious Viking runes found in a landlocked US state

Did Vikings find their way to a remote part of Oklahoma? Some in a small community believe so, thanks to controversial runic carvings found in the area.

“[Farley] spent the majority of her adult life researching the stone,” said Amanda Garcia, Heavener Runestone Park manager. “She travelled all around the US, went to Egypt and went to different places looking at different markings.”

Faith Rogers, an environmental-science intern and volunteer at the Heavener Runestone Park, led me down a cobblestone path toward one of the 55-acre woodland’s biggest attractions – which is also one of the US’ biggest historical mysteries. We were deep in the rolling, scrub-forest foothills of the Ouachita Mountains in far eastern Oklahoma, and we were on our way to view a slab of ancient sandstone that still has experts scratching their heads and debating about the eight symbols engraved on its face. 

Some believe that these cryptic inscriptions are runes (ancient alphabetical characters) carved into the towering stone circa 1000 CE by Norse explorers who travelled up the Arkansas River to this remote part of landlocked America.

“Do I think the Vikings carved this? I do,” said Rogers, as we stood in the protective wood-and-glass “house” built around the 3m-by-3.6m slab. “[Local historian] Gloria Farley spent her whole life researching this, and she has a lot of evidence to back it up.”

Farley – who grew up in the town of Heavener where the runestone was found and who passed away in 2006 – is a legend in these parts. She first saw the relic while hiking as a young girl in 1928 and was fascinated by it. Two decades later, she returned to study it, as an amateur runologist and self-taught epigraphist. 

The first modern knowledge of the runestone dates to the 1830s, when it was found by a Choctaw hunting party. For years, white Oklahomans called it Indian Rock, mistakenly thinking that the carvings were Native American.

“[Farley] spent the majority of her adult life researching the stone,” said Amanda Garcia, Heavener Runestone Park manager. “She travelled all around the US, went to Egypt and went to different places looking at different markings.”

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