TULSA, Okla. (AP) - The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office failed to appear for the initial court appearance of a former Rogers County commissioner who was charged by the office with embezzlement.
Special Judge Terrell Crosson convened Friday’s hearing for Kirt Lannon Thacker, and after a brief recess, Crosson reached Senior Assistant Attorney General Charles Rogers by speakerphone. Rogers told the judge he thought the court date was May 29, the Tulsa World reported Saturday (https://bit.ly/1AlQIE1 ).
“I apologize to the court and to counsel,” Rogers said. “I’m embarrassed about it, and I’m sorry.”
Attorneys for Thacker expressed displeasure. One of them, Josh Lee, immediately asked Crosson to dismiss the case, a motion the judge rejected.
“To make a big, public spectacle of this thing like they did and fail to appear - it’s inexcusable, in my opinion,” Clint Ward, who also represents Thacker, said.
Crosson rescheduled the court appearance for Wednesday.
The attorney general’s Office leveled a pair of charges against Thacker, 45, of Inola, on April 24. One alleges that he misappropriated county property valued at more than $25,000 to build a stock pond and make other improvements to his farm in June and July 2011 without approval from the Board of County Commissioners, documents show.
The second claims that he embezzled county equipment, materials and labor valued at greater than $1,000. That count dates to May 29, 2012, when Thacker is accused of directing a road crew to transport materials and equipment to the Rogers County Cherokee Association headquarters to reconstruct a private road without the county board’s permission.
The charges arose from an the office’s review of issues raised by a Rogers County grand jury petition, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the state’s multicounty grand jury, Attorney General Scott Pruitt said last month.
Ward and Lee said they plan to ask the attorney general’s office to recuse itself.
___
Information from: Tulsa World, https://www.tulsaworld.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.