Former Oologah police chief surrenders on embezzling, obstruction charges

OOLOGAH, Okla. (AP) _ The town's former police chief surrendered Thursday on three charges of embezzling bail money and one count of obstructing an officer, the Rogers County Sheriff's office said.

Thursday, July 25th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OOLOGAH, Okla. (AP) _ The town's former police chief surrendered Thursday on three charges of embezzling bail money and one count of obstructing an officer, the Rogers County Sheriff's office said.

Bob Lee Slagle Jr., who served nine years as Oologah police chief before being a fired about a month ago, turned himself in about 9 a.m., said Lora Upton, administrative assistant for the sheriff's department.

He was released on a $10,000 bond and will be arraigned Monday morning in Claremore, she said.

Slagle had reached an agreement with District Attorney Gene Haynes to surrender instead of being arrested. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison for the felony obstruction charge and one year each for the misdemeanor embezzlement counts.

Slagle was fired after town officials discovered bail money was missing. He is accused of collecting bail totaling $1,479 for four defendants and not handing it over to the town clerk.

He's also accused of offering a reserve officer full-time status in exchange for his denial that Slagle removed court documents from a lock box, his criminal affidavit said.

Slagle couldn't be reached for comment Thursday. Haynes said that while the former chief did replace the money in two of the cases, he's denying any wrongdoing.

Slagle was a well-liked chief in this northeast Oklahoma town of about 880 people. The town's chamber of commerce had honored Slagle just months before he was fired.