OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office has concluded its investigation of Ryan Walters and turned over the results to the Oklahoma County District Attorney, according to statements from both offices.
Walters is the Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction, a state-wide elected position.
Two members of the State Board of Education, Becky Carson and Ryan Deatherage, have insisted that they saw moving images of fully nude women on the TV in Walters’ conference room during an executive session in late July and had to tell him to turn it off multiple times.
Walters has denied those allegations in subsequent statements and falsely claimed that he had been “cleared” even before the investigation had been completed.
The conflict between that episode and the issues Walters has pursued in public was jarring.
Since taking office, Walters has railed against public schools’ libraries, alleging some had “porn” in circulation, which were, in fact, books about relationships with which he disagrees and are not pornography.
“On July 24, two board members reported seeing inappropriate images on Walters’ TV during a closed-door meeting,” read a brief news release from Oklahoma County Sheriff Tommie Johnson, III. “The State Office of Management and Enterprise Services asked us to investigate the claims on July 28.”
The statement continued, “After a thorough investigation, our office is now turning over its findings to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office. Because the case is now in the hands of the DA, we can’t discuss the specifics of our findings. At the closure of this case in its entirety we will discuss the case more in depth.”
“They did meet with the DA today,” confirmed Brook Arbeitman with DA Vicki Behenna’s office. “Now our office will review the investigation to determine if charges will be filed or not. There is no timeline on how long that will take.”
Brett is the founder, and editor in chief of Oklahoma City Free Press. He continues to contribute reporting and photography to the efforts of the publication as well as leadership in developing support.
