PITTSBURG COUNTY, Okla. — Former Pittsburg County Sheriff Chris Morris appeared in court on embezzlement charges on Jan. 8.
Morris is accused of embezzlement connected to purchasing a UTV for the sheriff's department.
2 News Oklahoma's Douglas Braff attended the hearing and went to the officials involved to understand what this means.
An eager crowd waited inside a McAlester courtroom for Morris to show up for his arraignment hearing Wednesday morning — only for special news to be delivered: he entered a plea deal.
"Honestly, I'm just grateful that it's over, that we have resolution," Pittsburg County District Attorney Chuck Sullivan told 2 News after the plea agreement was reached.
Two felony charges are dismissed under the condition that Morris plead no contest to a new misdemeanor embezzlement charge filed on Jan. 8.
“I'm sure it wasn't something that he wanted to necessarily do,” said Jack Thorp. “But, in this case, it was a resolution of the criminal cases that were filed against him.”
Thorp is the D.A. for multiple counties (Adair, Cherokee, Sequoyah, Wagoner). Pittsburg is not among them. He took on the case against Morris after Sullivan recused himself.
As for why he did, Sullivan said, “Because as the district attorney, I serve as legal counsel for all the other elected county officials, and that includes the county sheriff. So, there's conflict there.”
After an investigation, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations last year charged Morris with embezzlement.
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EMBEZZLEMENT CLAIMS: Pittsburg County sheriff arrested & charged
Specifically, the state accused him of purchasing a utility vehicle from a dealership in McAlester for his personal use. Morris reportedly later traded that vehicle in and bought it back for the sheriff’s office. OSBI said it was presented to the county clerk as a new vehicle to bypass state bidding requirements.
Morris has denied those claims in past statements.
Before the arraignment began Wednesday morning, Thorp told us, “In exchange for a plea of no contest to a misdemeanor embezzlement, his two prior felony cases were dismissed.”
“Chris Morris pled to two years deferred sentence, so he'll be on unsupervised probation for two years,” he added. “And also part of that, he did not take office as sheriff of Pittsburg County.”
Morris repaid the county Wednesday morning and lost his cleat license for two years.
Despite facing felony charges, voters re-elected Morris in June. He was suspended the following month until Jan. 2, when he officially resigned, per an agreement with the Pittsburg County Commissioners.
Morris’s next court date is scheduled for Jan. 8, 2027.
“Our law system made its call. They done what they decided to do,” Commissioner Ross Selman told 2 News.
Selman, the Commissioners’ chair, said Frankie McClendon will serve as sheriff until November 2026, the next general election. That’s unless they can schedule a special election.
“We have been, as a board, trying to get it pushed out to the people so they can pick their own sheriff,” said Selman.
Morris has not responded to our requests for comment.
When asked if this deal is justice for the citizens of Pittsburg County, Thorp replied: “I think justice comes in many different forms, but I believe it is justice in this case.”
“We have rules and regulations regarding purchasing,” he said.
“These individuals have to follow the law. It doesn't matter if you're an elected official or not an elected official. If you're an elected official and you violate the law and it's discovered, then prosecutors will file charges and move forward and see that justice is done for the citizens. And that's what we did in this case."
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