In this week's edition of "Oklahoma Sheriffs – The Sooner State's Most Corrupt Institution," we visit Nowata County in far Northeastern Oklahoma.
Earlier this week, Sheriff Kenny David Freeman was charged with embezzlement for using $6,000 in donated school supplies as giveaway items for his own campaign.
Via The Tulsa World:
Nowata County’s recently appointed sheriff allegedly embezzled about $6,000 in school supplies to, in part, support his own election campaign.
State authorities arrested Nowata County Sheriff Kenny David Freeman on Wednesday on one charge of embezzlement, according to court documents.
Freeman, 43, allegedly distributed the supplies at local events, including a local fair and at one point at a campaign booth, District Attorney Kevin Buchanan said.
“It appears he was using it for his campaign for sheriff,” Buchanan said.
Someone may want to check on the panhandling teacher from Tulsa. I think her brain may have exploded. Here are more details:
The Walmart in Bartlesville prepared donations for seven area schools, including Nowata and South Coffeyville. Buchanan said the other five schools received their supplies. The donation to the seven schools was valued at $25,400. A Walmart employee told investigators that, because it was the Sheriff’s Office picking up the donations, she “gave them extra,” according to the affidavit.
Buchanan estimated the value of the embezzled supplies was about $6,000.
A witness, one of the Walmart employees, told investigators she saw coloring books, lunch boxes, crayons and markers at the Sheriff’s Office booth at the county fair.
“She said she recognized the items as she’d just handled them for markdown the week before,” investigators state in the affidavit.
Freeman allegedly misappropriated at least 90 lunch boxes between the fair and a homecoming parade. In a social media post ostensibly authored by Freeman, he seemingly admits to passing out the donated goods at the Sheriff’s Office booth in the county fair. Freeman cites “drama” that county residents took issue “that I gave the kids free lunch pails that had been donated to give to kids.”
Wow. What a nice guy! He decided to cut out the middle-man (a.k.a. teachers and school districts) and just give the kids supplies directly from his campaign booth! If only other Oklahoma sheriffs were that noble. I bet during the Nowata Sheriff Department Food Drive he keeps some extra canned goods in his cabinet for when his poor friends come over for dinner!
Anyway, you can read more about this fiasco over at The Tulsa World. According to their report, Freeman is free on $2,000 bail. Let's hope that he pays all his legal bills on time. The last thing he would want is to be extorted by bill collectors from the Oklahoma Sheriffs Association.
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