Tulsa World
Thursday, May 16, 1996
Sheriff Says He’ll Turn Himself In
12-count indictment charges the Ottawa County Lawman with obstruction of justice and extortion.
By Julie DelCour and Michael Smith
World Staff Writers
Ottawa County Sheriff James Ed Walker was named Wednesday in a 12-count federal indictment charging him with obstruction of justice and extorting bribes from northeastern Oklahoma gambling operations.
Walker, 48, who is completing his first term and is up for reelection, was working at his Miami, Okla., office Wednesday after the indictment was returned in U.S. District Court in Tulsa.
He said he would surrender to U.S. marshals Thursday. “I don’t feel good about it. But I’d rather do that than have them come after me,” he said.
Walker, who has said he would fight the charges, could be tried as early as July.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m going back to the sheriff’s office. I don’t think I can be removed from office legally without a conviction. I’m still innocent until proven guilty,” Walker told the Tulsa World.
Walker, who paid himself a $1,900-per-month gross salary from the sheriff’s budge, is charged with five counts of extortion involving five area businessmen who allegedly operated illegal video gaming machines.
He also is charged with fours counts of aiding and abetting illegal commercial gambling operations in Ottawa County from May 3, 1995, to Sept. 14, 1995.
In the final three counts, Walker is charged with obstructing justice from April 1994 through September 1995.
“It was part of the conspiracy,” the charges states, that businessmen “would pay 10 percent of net profits from the gambling devices to Walker to induce him not to enforce gambling law.”
Northern District U.S. Attorney Steve Lewis said he did not know how much money the operations generated or how much Walker allegedly received from the businessmen.
Walker’s attorney, Federal Public Defender Stephen Knorr, declined comment. On Feb. 14, a federal magistrate appointed Knorr to represent Walker, who has been under investigation for several months.
Ottawa-Delaware County District Attorney Ben Loring said he expects to meet with county commissioners Monday to discuss asking Walker for his resignation.
“If he declines we will discuss the avenues available for removing him, or asking him for his suspension so that he would step down until this is all over,” Loring said.
Loring said the charges “saddened” him and caused him to be “concerned about the posture this puts the sheriff’s office in” and the potential for county liability.
“Something needs to be done pretty quickly,” Loring said of a decision on Walker’s status.
Named in separate charges alleging gambling infractions and obstruction of justice are Hubert East, 73, and Steve East, 31, both of Commerce; Lawrence F. “Buddy” Brumback, Ketchum; and George W. Roberts, 64, and Michael W. Roberts, 34, of Neosho, Mo.
More than 15 people have been indicted in the probe involving Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri.
Lewis said the latest charges complete the first stage of the investigation that began last year and included Loring’s office, Mayes-Craig and Rogers County, District Attorney Gene Haynes office, the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the U.S. Marshal’s Service. Both Lewis’ office and the Kansas U.S. attorney’s office were involved.
According to a Joplin Globe story, Loring forwarded the investigation to federal authorities after learning that illegal gambling at the Blue House in West Seneca involved a possible interstate connection.
Meanwhile, Walker said, “I’m not accepting any plea bargain, and I will not resign until I’m forced to. I’ll fight this legally all the way and try to see it through.
Among those charged in the past year are 13 owners of clubs where illegal video gambling machines allegedly were found by IRS agents.
Walker said the grand jury investigation has linked him to alleged payoffs from club owners in exchange for allowing the machines to be operated and from vendors whose machines he allegedly told bar owners to use.
Walker said the gambling machines were in place before he took office and that the investigation is “a political deal to get me out of office and keep me from running for another term.”
Lewis said gambling appeared to be “widespread in the area.”
Asked if he would pursue any gamblers, Lewis said, “At this point our investigation is confined to the distributors of machines, business owners and employees.”
Also asked if he could compel Walker to resign, Lewis said there “is nothing we can do about his holding office in this pre-trial stage.”
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