© 2024 Public Radio Tulsa
800 South Tucker Drive
Tulsa, OK 74104
(918) 631-2577

A listener-supported service of The University of Tulsa
classical 88.7 | public radio 89.5
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Attorney general asks investigators to expand McCurtain County inquiry

Updated Saturday, May 6 at 10:16 a.m.

Attorney General Genter Drummond announced he’s asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to expand its inquiry into McCurtain County officials allegedly caught on tape making racist and violent remarks.

In a letter addressed to Gov. Kevin Stitt Friday, Drummond wrote he is asking OSBI to include wrongdoing under a state law that says officials can be removed for habitual neglect of duty, corruption, gross partiality, oppression, extortion, willful maladministration, habitual drunkenness, or failure to appropriately handle public money.

Drummond also wrote a letter to OSBI Director Aungela Spurlock requesting the expansion.

The story from Friday:

The McCurtain County Board of Commissioners was scheduled next week to discuss the suspension and removal of Sheriff Kevin Clardy, though in an updated agenda posted Friday, the item was removed. Clardy and several other county officials were allegedly caught on tape last month making racist and violent comments, bringing national attention to the southeastern Oklahoma county.

While rumors swirled online that plans for an investigation were changed because the state attorney general would be taking over Clardy’s office, a spokesperson for Attorney General Gentner Drummond said there was no truth to those rumors.

The commission’s office didn’t immediately return calls for more information.

The change comes after jail administrator Larry Hendrix, also implicated in the recording, was placed on administrative leave Tuesday. Though officials have declined to give a reason for putting Hendrix on leave, on the same day as the vote from the jail trust, the CEO of the local hospital issued a statement detailing a fresh conflict with Hendrix.

In the statement, CEO Brian Whitfield said McCurtain Memorial’s operations were significantly disrupted on May 1 when protestors complained that the hospital was denying medical treatment to an inmate, Byron Young, who was attacked.

“It was determined that the jail staff was informing callers into the jail that it was the hospital that was refusing to see the inmate due to safety concerns. This is absolutely untrue, and I immediately called jail administrator Larry Hendrix,” wrote Whitfield.

In a recording of a phone call between Hendrix and Whitfield, Whitfield cajoles Hendrix to bring Young to the hospital, but Hendrix worries that would be letting the protestors win.

“I honestly don’t exactly see how giving in to requests with no foundation is going to resolve anything other than letting them know we will bend to their will,” said Hendrix.

According to Young’s sister, Cherry Stampley, Young was taken to and is still at the forensic hospital in Vinita. Stampley said 46-year-old Young, who was charged with domestic violence offenses in 2021, was attacked in jail in 2022 and has since been on the decline.

At the subsequent meeting of the jail trust, protestors, accompanied by an assistant to Rev. Jesse Jackson Derek Van Voast, gathered to demand the resignation of Hendrix.

“It’s time for us to start rebuilding. We need to get our county back on the right way. We’re losing ground,” said Idabel Mayor Craig Young before the vote.

After Hendrix was put on paid leave, Young asked Clardy, who chairs the jail trust, who might take over the jail administrator position, and Clardy left the room without speaking.

Clardy, Hendrix, Commissioner Mark Jennings and sheriff’s investigator Alicia Manning were all allegedly caught on the recording taken by the local newspaper where the end of lynching was lamented, the murder of reporters was discussed, and a woman who apparently died in a fire was compared to barbecue.

Despite calls from the governor and others for the resignations of everyone involved, only Jennings has so far stepped down.

Copyright 2023 Public Radio Tulsa

Before joining Public Radio Tulsa, Elizabeth Caldwell was a freelance reporter and a teacher. She holds a master's from Hollins University. Her audio work has appeared at KCRW, CBC's The World This Weekend, and The Missouri Review. She is a south Florida native.