Oklahoma
Oklahoma County jail trust member resigning, leaving two open seats
The number of empty seats on Oklahoma County’s jail trust is back to two.
Chad Alexander, who was appointed to the trust in October 2021 by then-Commissioner Kevin Calvey to fill a seat formerly held by Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb, is stepping down.
Alexander, who has missed several recent trust meetings, submitted his resignation earlier this month to Joe Allbaugh, chairman of the trust.
More: The Oklahoma County Jail under the Jail Trust. A timeline of trouble
Allbaugh notified Commissioner Myles Davidson of Alexander’s resignation on April 12. Davidson’s office will appoint a replacement.
“I must regretfully resign my position on the Oklahoma County Jail Trust. Family and work commitments are not allowing me the time needed to fulfill the position,” Alexander wrote. “I appreciate the trust put in me to help move the detention center forward.”
Who makes up the Oklahoma County jail trust, who appoints them and how long do they serve?
Oklahoma County’s jail trust consists of nine members, seven of which are appointed by Oklahoma County commissioners (the other two trust members are an elected commissioner who is willing to serve — currently Commissioner Davidson — and Oklahoma County’s sheriff, currently Tommie Johnson III).
The commissioners each get to fill a single trust seat representing his or her district. The other four are considered at-large positions and require at least two commissioners to support their appointments.
When the trust was initially formed, appointees’ lengths of terms — either two, four or six years — were determined by a random drawing. However, all trust seats will transition to six year terms in 2025.
None of the original trust members appointed in 2019 are still on the board.
More: Jail’s troubled history leads to its being removed from sheriff’s management
There have been numerous recent changes to the board.
Attorney Shelly Perkins attended her first trust meeting earlier this month. She succeeded Sue Ann Arnall, who resigned from her at-large position in February after nearly five years.
Rochelle Gray, a manager in Deloitte Consulting’s government and public services practice, was appointed in January to succeed former state Sen. Ben Brown, who submitted his resignation from the trust in June of 2023.
Gray, however, couldn’t serve after her employer raised potential conflict of interest concerns that might create because of contracts it had with various state agencies, said Brian Maughan, chairman of Oklahoma County’s board of county commissioners. Brown’s seat, which Maughan will fill, remains vacant. Maughan hopes to appoint someone to the post soon.
James Johnson Jr., a criminal justice/social work professor at Rose State College, was appointed to the trust in August 2023 by Commissioner Carrie Blumert to fill a seat previously held by M.T. Berry. Berry resigned in June 2023 after serving about four years.
Meanwhile, Allbaugh rejoined the trust in June 2023 after leaving in 2022 to seek elected office in Kay County.
Allbaugh succeeded Adam Luck, a former member of Oklahoma’s Pardon and Parole Board. Luck had resigned from his seat on the trust in March 2023, just months after accepting an appointment in September 2022.
Steven Buck was appointed to the trust in February 2023, succeeding Jim Couch, Oklahoma City’s retired city manager. Couch resigned from the trust in December 2022.
Maughan said serving out a full term as a trust member isn’t easy to do because the appointment brings additional responsibilities (mostly through reading requirements and occasional meetings with jail staff) that most appointments don’t require.
No trust member has been forcibly removed by a county commissioner because they have the power to serve an entire term once they are appointed without fear of removal.
“It’s like a judge,” Maughan said.
Commissioners also configured the trust to make it possible for someone to serve even if they don’t live inside of Oklahoma County.
Because businesses located in Oklahoma County have a vested interest in the jail’s operation, just being one of those entities’ employees qualifies a willing individual to serve, Maughan said.
“The business community wants to partner with us in terms of figuring out a long term solution” with jail-related problems, Maughan said. “There are a number of people who have long-standing ties to Oklahoma County, but live outside of its borders.”
Oklahoma
Oklahoma police set up sting for stolen property
TULSA, Okla. (KOKH) — One person has been arrested after allegedly trying to sell stolen property on Facebook.
On April 10, an officer with the Tulsa Police Department saw a post on Facebook Marketplace for a projector lens that was stolen from the condemned Promenade Mall.
The lens, which is worth $20,000, was listed for just $500.
The officer used a fake Facebook account to message the seller and arranged a trade for the lens in exchange for a minibike.
Earlier this week, 19-year-old Zachery Scrivner met with the officer and was arrested.
According to the police department, Scrivner said he knew the lens was stolen but decided to try to sell it anyway.
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He was arrested on a complaint of knowingly concealing stolen property.
Oklahoma
Video shows Oklahoma principal tackling gunman in school lobby
Oklahoma
Oklahoma principal shot disarming ex-student with semi-automatic guns
An Oklahoma principal has been praised for preventing a tragedy at his high school by charging and disarming a former student armed with two semi-automatic handguns, an episode captured on dramatic surveillance video.
Kirk Moore, principal of Pauls Valley high school, was shot in the leg as he wrestled the attacker, a 20-year-old said by court documents to be obsessed with the 1999 shooting at Colorado’s Columbine high school in which 12 students and one teacher were killed.
Authorities in Garvin county, about 60 miles south of Oklahoma City, said Moore’s action of racing from his office in the school’s lobby, and throwing himself on top of the suspect, undoubtedly prevented a tragedy.
“It doesn’t surprise me the actions that he took, but it is amazing, the actions that he took,” Don May, chief of the Pauls Valley police department, told NBC News.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind that he saved kids’ lives.”
Investigators said the alleged attacker, Victor Lee Hawkins, fired several shots before he was disarmed by Moore and another staff member who arrived to help. Nobody was hurt other than the principal, who needed hospital treatment for a wound to his lower right leg.
Hawkins remained at the Garvin county detention center on Tuesday on $1m bail, NBC reported, awaiting a court appearance on 8 May. He faces charges of shooting with intent to kill, feloniously pointing a firearm and carrying a weapon to a public assembly.
The incident occurred shortly before 2.20pm on 7 April, according to an arrest affidavit signed by special agent Meric Mussett of the Oklahoma state bureau of investigation.
About 20 minutes earlier, Mussett wrote, Hawkins, a 2025 graduate of the high school, took two of his father’s weapons from a closet in their home and drove to the campus “with the intent of killing students, facility [sic], and finally himself”.
Hawkins “entered the school, pointed his pistol, and yelled for everyone to get on the ground”, Mussett said, adding that he pointed the gun at a female student in the lobby and pulled the trigger, but the weapon malfunctioned.
“Hawkins then stepped out from behind the vending machine and pointed his gun at a male student in the foyer. Principal Moore then came out of his office and charged at Hawkins.”
Mussett said Hawkins told him he wanted to “conduct his own school shooting like the Columbine shooters did”, referring to the 1999 Colorado tragedy in which two teenage assailants took their own lives after murdering students and staff.
“Hawkins did not like Moore, therefore Hawkins went to the school to kill Moore,” Mussett wrote.
A statement on its website under the heading “safe school” details Pauls Valley’s preparations for such an incident.
“Throughout the past decade… the high school has also developed and practiced safety measures to be taken should there be an intruder or dangerous individual on campus,” it said. “It is our foremost concern that our students feel and are safe at school.”
Several former students told Oklahoma City’s ABC News affiliate KOCO they were not surprised by Moore’s action.
“If some student was to get harmed, he would definitely take a bullet for him. I believe that,” Spencer Flinn said.
In a statement reported by NBC, Moore said he was grateful for “an outpouring of love and support” that followed the incident.
“Like so many educators around the country, we prepare for these events through training and careful assessment of the threats,” he said. “I am grateful that my instincts and training, as well as God’s hand, were available to me.”
Moore said he was “healthy and recovering”, and looking forward to returning to work.
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