MCCURTAIN COUNTY, Okla. — Days after the Oklahoma Attorney General and Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation concluded there was no evidence that McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy broke any laws, the reporter alleging widespread corruption says he and his family are leaving the area.
Sheriff Clardy and other officials were caught on audio tape threatening to kill the reporter, Chris Willingham, and the publisher, his dad, Bruce. The group was also heard lamenting the days of lynching black people.
Willingham believes at a minimum Sheriff Clardy should be charged with threatening an act of violence.
“It was like being punch in the stomach,” he said in an exclusive interview with 2News.
Willingham says he found out the A.G. and OSBI were not pursuing charges the same way everyone else did—with the press release. Aside from speaking to the OSBI in April, he never heard from investigators again.
- Previous coverage >>> McCurtain Gazette reporter hopes “someone will listen” after McCurtain County investigative series
“The A.G.’s office has never contacted me once throughout this entire thing, which is kind of upsetting,” Willingham said.
Willingham says he and his family are moving. Aside from work and church, they don’t leave the house. “I am somewhat jaded by this and I just don’t want to raise my children here anymore,” he said. “If we see a sheriff’s deputy vehicle, my children are terrified. My youngest asked me, ‘Dad, are they going to kill you?’ and I wish I could answer, ‘Of course not!’ But I can’t.”
His relationship has been strained with the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office since his corruption investigation began. He hasn’t been in the building since March of 2022. He was told not to come to the building; they would email the daily reports to him. However, he went from viewing up to 80 reports a week in person to roughly 15 a week via email.
“I don’t think crime has decreased that much,” he said. “I just don’t think I’m seeing what the public should be seeing as far as open records go.”
“These individuals are a disgrace to our community, our state and the entire law enforcement profession,” he said. “But, they still have jobs.”
Lonnie Watson is leading a community effort to start a petition to impeach Sheriff Clardy. He says many in the community feel hopeless. Watson believes the sheriff got preferential treatment because he’s in law enforcement.
“If it was you, me and the mayor talking about doing that to the sheriff, what do you think would happen to us?” he said. “It wouldn’t be locker room talk, then, would it? No, it wouldn’t.”
Willingham’s dad still plans to keep the paper running.
Watson says they have a pro bono attorney and are ironing out details on how to pursue the impeachment process.
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