Ex-Sheriff Charged With Concealing Files

ANTLERS, Okla. (AP) _ Prosecutors charged a former Pushmataha County sheriff with concealing records and files after leaving office. <br/><br/>A felony charge of misappropriation of official records was

Saturday, May 26th 2007, 2:05 pm

By: News On 6

ANTLERS, Okla. (AP) _ Prosecutors charged a former Pushmataha County sheriff with concealing records and files after leaving office.

A felony charge of misappropriation of official records was filed Thursday against Elvin Noah Flood, 65. The former sheriff is accused of keeping files that pertained to ongoing investigations.

When current Sheriff Jim Duncan took office in 2005, he asked the Oklahoma Highway Patrol to investigate missing files and evidence logs after citizens had requested information about cases and no paperwork was available.

Troopers served a search warrant in the office of Flood's grocery store in Nashoba in February 2005 and found files to open, pending cases and what appeared to be original copies, according to an affidavit prepared by the investigating troopers.

The previous district attorney for the area, Virginia Sanders, declined to file charges against Flood in 2005. Laura Ross Wallis, who took office this year, filed charges this week.

If convicted, Flood could be fined up to $1,000 and serve two years in prison.

Duncan, a retired state trooper who worked in Pushmataha County, beat Flood for the sheriff's seat in a 2004 election.

Four years earlier, Flood beat Duncan's wife, Rita, in a race for the seat. Rita Duncan was the incumbent at the time.

Flood's attorney, Gerald Dennis, said the allegations are political and that Flood had copies of files, not original pages.

``He thinks it's got the appearance of politics,'' Dennis said. ``Those files he had, he had a right to.''

Flood paid a $5,000 bail and is due back in court June 6.