A county in southeast Oklahoma was exposed over the weekend for breaking the state's open meetings laws after a leaked recording revealed a local sheriff and several McCurtain County commissioners discussing hiring hitmen to murder local newspaper reporters. County officials also discussed lynching people and beating them up.
As local KJRH reported Monday evening, the McCurtain Gazette's publisher Bruce Willingham was told that he and his family should flee town for their own safety.
The publisher's son, Chris Willingman "has written at least 30 articles alleging corruption involving the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office over the last few years," KJRH reported.
A short excerpt from the transcript reads:
District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings: I know where two big deep holes are here if you ever need them.
Sheriff Kevin Clardy: I’ve got an excavator.
Jennings: Well, these are already pre-dug. But the thing of it is, you know.
Sheriff's investigator Alicia Manning: We actually told the truth.
Jennings: I’ve known, I’ve known two or three hit men, they're very quiet guys…
Manning: Yeah?
In a statement posted to the McCurtain County County Sheriff's Office's Facebook, the department painted themselves as the victims and said that they were now investigating the reporters for recording the conversation in violation of communications crimes.
"The last 72 hours have been amongst the most difficult and disruptive in recent memory. This is a very complex situation and one we regret having to address," the Sheriff's Office began.
"There is and has been an ongoing investigation into multiple, significant violation of the Oklahoma Security of Communications Act, Title 13, Chapters 176.3 and 176.4 which states that it is illegal to secretly record a conversation in which you are not involved and do not have the consent of at least one of the involved parties. There is a significant number of victims of this criminal activity and it has taken significant effort and time to identify them and corroborate evidence," the statement continues. It cites the Oklahoma mandate that at least one person knows that they are being recorded.
The Sheriff appears to be saying that because the paper wasn't present, it means that there wasn't consent. The publisher left the recorder in the room. It's voice-activated. It's unknown if the recorder was in full view of the officials.
"Many of these recordings, like the one published by media outlets on Friday, have yet to be duly authenticated or validated," the Sheriff's office continued. "Our preliminary information indicates that the media-released audio recording has, in fact, been altered. The motivation for doing so remains unclear at this point. That matter is actively being investigated."
"In addition to being illegally obtained, the audio does not match the 'transcription' of that audio, and is not precisely consistent with what has been put into print. Multiple agencies are assisting in this ongoing investigation. As a result of the press release that went out on Friday, a large number of threats of violence including death threats have been made against county employees and officials, their families and friends."
"There will be continued press releases from this agency as the investigation comes to a close and findings are forwarded to the appropriate authorities for felony charges to be filed on those involved," the Facebook post continued.
Local resident Madison Peavy told KJRH that it will ask authorities to investigate more cases including her "missing father, and the mysterious death of her friend."
“I am thrilled this is coming to the surface finally this has been a long time coming,” said Peavy.
The paper is set to release more recordings and articles on Thursday.
The far-right Republican governor has already asked everyone involved to resign. Hundreds of community members protested outside of Sheriff's office on Monday.
