Published: November 10, 2009 11:16 pm      

Investigations continue at Marlow Police Department

MARLOW — An internal investigation and a criminal investigation, conducted by separate agencies, continue into the activities of the Marlow Police Department.

The two are independent of each other, but both investigations stem from the alleged actions of officers Randy Johnson and Rodney Richards, along with Chief Bob Hill, all of whom are on administrative leave with pay.

City Administrator Janice Cain said Tuesday there isn’t a timeline for the internal process and it varies depending on what is reviewed. When asked if the Marlow Police Department has had other investigations in the past five years, she said there have been, noting that sometimes citizens do lodge complaints against officers.

“We don’t reveal complaints against our officers. We have dealt with those,” she said.

The firm handling the internal investigation is Lytle, Soulee’ and Curlee in Oklahoma City, Cain said.

“When certain things happen, that can be made public. But we have to protect rights and handle those in the proper manner,” she said.

The three officers were placed on leave following the dismissal of an Oct. 16 court case that began when Johnson and Richards arrested a pair of individuals in May for methamphetamine possession and trafficking.

During the hearing, Stephens County District Attorney Bret Burns asked for dismissal of the charges against the defendant, based on the officer’s testimonies and inconsistencies. Burns said that the officers perjured themselves on the stand.

The testimonies contradicted, as did Hill’s, Burns said. Judge Carl LaMar granted Burns request to dismiss the charges. The defendant’s female companion had already pleaded guilty and received 20 years for trafficking, in an earlier October hearing.

Since Hill’s leave, Doyle Crownover has been acting chief.

Following the dismissal of his client’s charges, Duncan attorney James L. Kee made a public statement seeking an investigation into the police department and also the conduct of Officer Tony Aguilera, who is still an active officer and has not been indicated in involvement in the recent case.

In June, LaMar dropped burglary charges against another Marlow man, because evidence revealed that Aguilera forced his way into a residence after being denied permission to enter.

In earlier interviews with Burns, it has been noted that both cases appear to have evidence of civil rights violations.

When asked about Aguilera’s status, Cain, reading from an E-mail, said, “The city has not been notified of any charges against Officer Tony Aguilera or any allegations of purported criminal activity of wrong doing by him.”

Cain also said, “The entire operations and procedures (of Marlow Police Department) are under internal review.”

Cain was asked about a lack of institutional control. She declined to place blame on any person.

“Everybody has civil rights,” she said.

As for Marlow’s investigation process, Cain acknowledged that investigators from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation have been to the city. She said that criminal investigations are handled different than internal investigations.

OSBI Agent Richard Goss, in the Lawton office, said his office has been recused from the entire investigation and referred The Banner to OSBI Public Information Officer Jessica Brown.

“We work with both the District Attorney’s office and the Marlow Police Department,” he said, citing it was necessary for a “complete and fair investigation.”

Brown said OSBI agents have been assigned to investigate, at the request of “the chief.” She confirmed it is a criminal investigation stemming from the testimonies made by officers on the stand. She declined to name the officers.

“No one has been arrested or charged,” she said. “There are several agents active and working on it. Typically, an investigation takes a lot of time and there is a lot of information to be found and put in a report. The requester gets a copy,” she said.

Brown said it was still too early to determine which other agencies would receive copies, citing that either the District Attorney or Attorney General could possibly be recipient of the report once the investigation was complete.