As DA seeks Hughes County Jail alternative, Seminole County Sheriff Shannon Smith resigns

Aug. 24—WEWOKA — When Seminole County's Board of Commissioners and Building Trust Authority amended their operating agreement and established a lower "average daily cost" for housing inmates at the county jail Monday morning, Sheriff Shannon Smith abstained from voting, chiming in briefly to tell District Attorney Erik Johnson that a city of Holdenville agreement to move its detainees from Hughes County's troubled facility to the Seminole County Jail has yet to be submitted.

Minutes after the meeting concluded, Smith fed a pair of resignation letters — one for himself and one for undersheriff Matthew Haley — into the office copy machine, and he submitted the formal notices to Seminole County commissioners and Johnson.

Monday's resignations come as county leaders await a special investigative audit into financial accounts at the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. The state's multi-county grand jury — a powerful law enforcement body used to subpoena records and, sometimes, indict people for alleged criminal behavior — has been engaged in the inquiry.

"We've been told there is something going on, but no one has told us what is going on," said Seminole County District 2 Commissioner Timothy Porter.

Smith declined to comment on the investigation Monday.

"I'm not going to discuss anything," said Smith, who was first appointed sheriff in 2009 when his predecessor's law enforcement certificate was suspended after he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and driving with an open container.

More than a decade later, Smith's own tenure drew scrutiny, some at his own suggestion. When then-District Attorney Paul Smith requested a state audit in October, Shannon Smith sought an inquiry as well.

"Please request a 'SPECIAL AUDIT' on the 'Inmate trust fund' from the state auditors office asap," Shannon Smith wrote in a message released by the State Auditor and Inspector's Office. "Please keep this confidential as possible for now. Depending on results, we will call the appropriate investigators and send reports to your office if anything is found to be illegal."

Officials with the State Auditor's and Inspector's Office and the Office of the Attorney General confirmed an investigation is ongoing but said details could not be discussed Monday.

But on Tuesday, the AG's office provided NonDoc with a deferred prosecution agreement finalized earlier in the day with Shannon Smith. The one-year agreement requires Smith to resign as sheriff and from the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training. The agreement will also suspend his CLEET certification for two years and prohibit him from seeking law enforcement employment for two years. The agreement also requires him to pay restitution of $2,566 for alleged "misappropriation" of funds.

Signed by senior deputy attorney general Jimmy Harmon, Smith and Smith's attorney, Irvin Box, the deferred prosecution agreement reveals some details of the allegations against the longtime Seminole County sheriff.

"The state of Oklahoma hereby agrees not to file charges against Shannon Smith for crimes arising from his misappropriation of funds from the Seminole County Sheriff Deputy Association Fund if Shannon Smith satisfactorily completes the conditions of this agreement," the agreement states. "He understands and acknowledges that this agreement pertains only to the misappropriation of funds from the Seminole County Sheriff Deputy Association Fund and does not apply to any other past, pending, or future investigation or prosecution against him or any other person."

Other former employees of the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, including Haley, remain under investigation for financial issues, sources have told NonDoc on the condition of anonymity.

Johnson, who replaced Paul Smith in January as the District 22 DA covering Seminole, Hughes and Pontotoc counties, said Monday that he recused from the investigation in March.

"They were seeking a subpoena for some personal financial records is the best of my information," Johnson said. "I don't know if there is a deferred prosecution agreement that has been executed by the sheriff or not on some of the goings-on. I don't know the answer to that."

According to their letters, Haley's resignation was effectively immediately, while Smith would depart Aug. 31.