Officer placed on paid leave pending department inquiry
Officer accused of lewd conduct

By Augie Frost

Published: April 21, 2007

An Oklahoma City police officer accused of sending lewd pictures from his cell phone to a female departmental employee's cell phone has been put on administrative paid leave, police said.

The officer's name was not released, and police would say only that the officer is a sergeant – but not a supervisor – and has been on the force for more than 14 years, Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty said.

"We're not going to release the name until charges are filed or a disposition is made,” Citty said.

"If charges aren't filed, then we won't release the name until a disposition is made, and if he is terminated or there is a loss of pay.”

It appears prior incidents of indecent exposure occurred in which the officer was thought to have sent lewd messages to other departmental employees, Oklahoma City police Capt. Steve McCool said.

"We just got the information yesterday on this investigation,” McCool said. "The latest victim has spoken up. In the prior incidents we learned about in the course of the investigation, nobody spoke up.”

The most recent instance involves a female employee who told police she "received a photo message on her cell phone from the suspect at approximately 10:15 a.m. on April 5, displaying a photograph of his penis,” McCool said.

She forwarded the message to a witness and stated that she wanted to prosecute the suspect, police said.

Investigators do not know how many times the accused officer has exposed himself to other department employees or how many victims he may have sent messages to, but they do not think the April 5 incident was isolated, McCool said.

"We keep turning over a rock, and then turning over another rock and turning over another rock ... so we just don't know,” he said.

The report states that several items were confiscated during the investigation. Those items are:

•A total of five paper documents, e-mails and text messages.

•One small piece of paper with a small, handwritten message on it.

•One photograph from a cell phone message.

Neither Citty nor McCool would comment on the nature of the evidence collected.

"My investigators are working it ... internal affairs is working,” Citty said.

"If they've collected e-mails, they must suspect it being related to some sort of evidence in the case.”

The phone used to send the lewd messages was not a department-issued phone but a personal phone, Citty said.

The female's phone also was personal. Citty didn't know whether the e-mails were sent from a departmental or personal account.

A request by The Oklahoman to see the e-mails in question was denied.

"At this point, even if it was city e-mail, I'm not going to release that ... because it would compromise the investigation,” Citty said.