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Archives: Stories

Tulsa Jail trust funds went missing as auditors raised red flags

Ziva Branstetter May 18, 2015

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For the past five years, state and federal auditors have repeatedly criticized the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office for lax oversight of inmate trust accounts – but those warnings prompted little change and some of the funds went missing, an investigation by The Frontier found.

State auditors also questioned the sheriff’s office for lack of oversight over federal grant funds used to finance a multi-agency drug task force, records show. Questions remain regarding a lack of documentation for nearly $200,000 in federal grant funds.

Sources say up to $25,000 was discovered missing from the inmate trust funds – money held on behalf of inmates in the jail – in 2012. It is unclear how the Sheriff’s Office made up the shortfall or whether some inmates simply didn’t receive their money after release.

Security guard found with weed when he shot and paralyzed Tulsa man

Dylan Goforth May 13, 2015

bird before and after

The security guard who shot and paralyzed a 21-year-old man earlier this year had marijuana in his truck at the time of the shooting, police records provided to The Frontier show.

Ricky Leroy Stone shot at Monroe Bird III three times on Feb. 4, when Bird drove away from a confrontation at a south Tulsa apartment complex.

Reports allege racism, sexual misconduct in jail under Major

Dylan Goforth Ziva Branstetter May 13, 2015

Huckeby, Tom

Major Tom Huckeby once likened the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office to a “paramilitary” operation, imbued with strong discipline and order.

But in court records and internal reports, others painted a far different picture: one where supervisors in the Tulsa Jail labeled black employees “N” in personnel files, Huckeby and others allegedly had “rampant sex” with co-workers and black inmates were assaulted for sport.

Meanwhile, supervisors at all levels in the Sheriff’s Office said they feared Huckeby — then a captain who appeared to enjoy the favor of Sheriff Stanley Glanz.