Tuesday, August 12th 2008, 10:30 pm
Hulbert Police are also facing down allegations that officers were dismissing citations in return for various favors. News On 6 anchor Jennifer Loren reports The News On 6 first began tracking the story in 2006 and has watched as it has fallen through several cracks.
Back in July of 2006, inspectors with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation finished an 11 month investigation into the Hulbert Police Department.
"There had been an allegation made to the DA's office that Hulbert PD was dismissing tickets in exchange for favors," said OSBI's Chuck Jeffries.
Hulbert's Police chief and a lieutenant were accused in the case. A 400 page report detailed the investigation, but those details were confidential, until now.
A letter to the state auditor requests an audit of the City of Hulbert's books after the OSBI investigation revealed discrepancies in traffic violations. It states there were 2,630 citations that were unaccounted for that had been issued, but not reported in official records.
According to the auditor's office that audit is still ongoing. Meanwhile, finding a district attorney to prosecute the case is a story in itself.
The News On 6 has followed the case through five different district attorneys' offices as one by one the DA's recuse themselves from the case.
It started in February of 2006 when Cherokee County DA Richard Grey recused himself because he could have been called as a witness.
The case bounced to Ottawa County, and then back to Cherokee County, where it sat for more than a year before moving on to Muskogee County and now, two and a half years later it's in the hands of the Leflore County District Attorney, who says he still hasn't decided whether he'll prosecute the case.
The LeFlore County DA could not tell The News On 6 when the statute of limitations would be up on the case. But, he did say there is no governing body in Oklahoma that oversees the timeliness of these types of cases.
August 12th, 2008
September 29th, 2024
September 17th, 2024
December 15th, 2024
December 15th, 2024
December 14th, 2024