THE DAILY OKLAHOMAN
Tuesday October 22,1996
Ottawa County Sheriff Framed, Attorney Says
By Anthony Thorton
Staff Writer
TULSA – Ottawa County Sheriff James “Ed “ Walker’s years of battling crime were repaid with a federal indictment built upon the lies of gambling device distributors, his attorney said Monday.
“Is this a case where an honest sheriff went after the wrong people?” attorney Gary Richardson asked jurors on the first day of Walker’s corruption trial.
Attorney in the case completed jury selection and began testimony in the trial in which Walker is accused of strong-arming distributors of video poker slot machines.
Walker, 48, is charged with five counts of extortion, four counts of aiding and abetting illegal gambling and three counts of conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Richardson said the distributors who have agreed to testify against Walker originally denied paying bribes. They changed their stories only after being promised plea agreements “that greatly reduced their jail time exposure,” Richardson said.
“Do you think it possible that Ed Walker…because of his action against the corruption in Ottawa, County…was framed by these vendors?” Richardson asked in opening statements to the jury of eight men and four women.
“I won’t ask you to answer that today, even though I’ve seen the evidence,” he said.
U.S. Attorney Steve Lewis said Walker made about $24,000 from five distributors between February 1994 and September 1995.
He said Walker “sold-out for what people generally would consider walking around money.”
Richardson described Walker as if career law officer who ran for sheriff in 1992 because then Sheriff Therl Whittle “had developed a reputation for a lack of integrity.”
Not long after he defeated Whittle Walker launched an investigation into claims that Whittle was present when a teenager was shot in a drug-related slaying.
That investigation resulted in a perjury charge against Whittle, who was acquitted.
As a Miami, OK, police officer, Walker made that city’s largest drug bust and was named police officer of the year, Richardson said.
As sheriff, he helped infiltrated a huge cattle-theft operation and broke up a burglary ring responsible for 80 break-ins, the attorney said.
Walker concentrated on drugs and sales of alcohol to minors, and admits he could have taken a harder line on illegal gambling, Richardson said.
But no sheriff had taken action before to stop it and now they’re accusing him of being on the take,” Richardson said.
He said it is curious that no busts ever took place at the local Elks lodge or Veterans of Foreign Wars lodge. Both places also had gambling devices that were supplied by the father of a local judge, Richardson said.
“The feds will say that the Elks club didn’t get busted because the feds simply ran out of manpower,” he said.
The real reason, he said, is that “someone notified those clubs, and they were able to get their stuff out.”
Richardson said Walker sent out warning letters to local businessmen involved in gambling and told them, “I am being lenient with you, but clean up your act.”
In November 1994, Walker led a raid on several businesses and seized numerous gambling devices, Richardson said. He said District Attorney Ben Loring ordered the machines returned.
Asked later about Loring’s motivation, Richardson said, “would like to hear Ben Loring answer that question.”
Loring, contacted at home Monday night, declined comment but said he expects to be subpoenaed.
“I’ll be glad to tell them everything I know,” Loring said.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
The sheriff is on paid suspension. He did not seek re-election but said he plans to finish his term if acquitted.
Richardson said Walker’s current and former co-workers will testify that if he did take bribes, “he is not the man they knew and worked with for over 20 years.”
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