Former Wagoner County Sheriff Sues Scott Pruitt For Slander

Former Wagoner County Sheriff Bob Colbert has filed a slander lawsuit against Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, alleging Pruitt falsely claimed on a national podcast that Colbert pocketed seized drug money.

In fact, criminal charges that Pruitt brought against him last year never alleged the former sheriff personally benefited from the money. Colbert resigned after the charges were filed.

A judge in December denied Colbert’s request to drop the bribery charge.

Pruitt is currently awaiting a vote in the full U.S. Senate on his appointment to head the Environmental Protection Agency. His nomination was approved by a Senate Committee in a meeting boycotted by all Democrats on the committee.

8/3/2016 Related Story; Suspended Wagoner County Sheriff, Deputy In Court For Hearing

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Tulsa County District Court, alleges that Pruitt’s statement on the CATO Institute’s May 9, 2016, daily podcast was made “with actual malice” and knowledge that it was false. The CATO Institute is a nonprofit public policy think tank that is influential in conservative circles across the nation. 

Pruitt’s statement about Colbert appears about 10 minutes into the podcast.

“We had a Wagoner county sheriff that stopped someone uh, in Wagoner County, and took $10,000 in a seizure and put it in their pocket, and so I’m indicting that individual,” Pruitt told podcast host Caleb Brown.

He went on to call the incident with Colbert one of the most “egregious examples” of law enforcement abuse of the civil asset forfeiture process in Oklahoma.

Pruitt’s office could not be reached for comment early Monday by The Frontier.

Pruitt filed extortion, bribery and conspiracy charges against Colbert on March 31, 2016 after a multicounty grand jury led by Pruitt’s office issued an accusation of removal against the sheriff.

The charges allege that  Colbert and Deputy Jeffrey Gragg conspired to bribe two individuals, taking $10,000 in exchange for not pursuing drug charges.

Gragg stopped the vehicle driven by Torrell Wallace and a 17-year-old passenger on Dec. 12, 2014 and discovered $10,000 during a search of their vehicle. Wallace and the 17-year-old were released when they claimed the money wasn’t theirs.

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