OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Control of the American Legion in Oklahoma is to return to Oklahoma Legionnaires on Jan. 1, nine months after the state chapter was taken over by the national organization amid allegations of embezzlement.
“Everybody’s very excited, very excited, very optimistic,” Marv Sandbek, the historian for the Oklahoma Department of the American Legion, told The Oklahoman (https://bit.ly/12PbqwJ ). “We’re ready to get back to work.”
The American Legion is a veterans’ organization with more than 2.4 million members worldwide, including about 17,600 members in Oklahoma.
The national American Legion voted March 23 to take over the Oklahoma operations after discovering as much as $1 million missing. All state Legion officials were forced out of office or fired.
National leaders voted in October to return control of state operations to Oklahoma. State Legionnaires will be required to reimburse the organization more than $600,000 for expenses in keeping the state operations afloat.
Meanwhile, former state Legion adjutant David Austin Kellerman, 44, of Mustang has been ordered to stand trial on drug and embezzlement charges.
Kellerman, who has denied wrongdoing, allegedly sold at least 39 ceremonial rifles, including some World War I and World War II era rifles that were loaned to Legion posts by the U.S. Department of Defense.
Kellerman was charged with drug possession after investigators reported finding bags of methamphetamine residue in the bedroom of his home during a search June 10.
Events planned for later this month in advance of returning control of the organization to Oklahoma officials include a tour of the state by the American Legion’s national commander, Michael D. Helm, starting in Braman.
The main ceremony is scheduled to be Dec. 28 in Del City.
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Information from: The Oklahoman, https://www.newsok.com
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