Oklahoma sheriff office claims recordings were ‘altered’ as FBI probes alleged death threats against reporters

An Oklahoma sheriff’s office, whose leader, along with three other local officials, is facing calls to resign, claimed Monday that leaked audio recordings capturing them allegedly making death threats against two local journalists and talking about lynching Black people appear to have been “altered,” as the FBI reportedly has launched an investigation into the area. 

“The last 72 hours have been amongst the most difficult and disruptive in recent memory. This is a very complex situation and one we regret having to address,” McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook Monday. “There is and has been an ongoing investigation into multiple, significant violation of the Oklahoma Security of Communications Act, Title 13, Chapters 176.3 and 176.4 which states that it is illegal to secretly record a conversation in which you are not involved and do not have the consent of at least one of the involved parties.” 

“There is a significant number of victims of this criminal activity, and it has taken significant effort and time to identify them and corroborate evidence,” the office added. 

“Many of these recordings, like the one published by media outlets on Friday, have yet to be duly authenticated or validated. Our preliminary information indicates that the media released audio recording has, in fact, been altered,” the sheriff’s office said. “The motivation for doing so remains unclear at this point. That matter is actively being investigated.”

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“In addition to being illegally obtained, the audio does not match the ‘transcription’ of that audio, and is not precisely consistent with what has been put into print,” the statement continued. “Multiple agencies are assisting in this ongoing investigation. As a result of the press release that went out on Friday, a large number of threats of violence including death threats have been made against county employees and officials, their families and friends. There will be continued press releases from this agency as the investigation comes to a close and findings are forwarded to the appropriate authorities for felony charges to be filed on those involved.” 

The McCurtain Gazette-News released portions of an audio recording following a March 6 county commission meeting in which McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, sheriff’s Capt. Alicia Manning and District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings appear to discuss reporters Bruce and Chris Willingham. Jennings tells Clardy and Manning, “I know where two deep holes are dug if you ever need them,” and the sheriff responds, “I’ve got an excavator.”

Jennings also said he’s known “two or three hit men” in Louisiana, adding, “They’re very quiet guys.”

In the recording, Jennings also appears to complain about being unable to hang Black people, saying, “They got more rights than we got.”

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, announced Sunday that he was seeking the resignations of Clardy, Manning, Jennings and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix. At least Clardy and Jennings were elected as Republicans. “I am both appalled and disheartened to hear of the horrid comments made by officials in McCurtain County,” Stitt said in a statement. “There is simply no place for such hateful rhetoric in the state of Oklahoma, especially by those that serve to represent the community through their respective office.”

KWTV-DT reported that the FBI launched an investigation into McCurtain County regarding the released recordings. 

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A spokeswoman for the FBI’s office in Oklahoma City told The Associated Press that the agency’s policy is not to confirm or deny any ongoing investigation. Phil Bacharach, a spokesman for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, said the agency had received an audio recording and is investigating the incident but declined to comment further.

Bruce Willingham, the longtime publisher of the McCurtain Gazette-News, said the recording was made on March 6 when he left a voice-activated recorder inside the room after a county commissioner’s meeting because he suspected the group was continuing to conduct county business after the meeting had ended in violation of the state’s Open Meeting Act. Chris Willingham, a reporter at the paper, is Bruce Willingham’s son.

“I talked on two different occasions to our attorneys to make sure I wasn’t doing anything illegal,” Bruce Willingham said.

Bruce Willingham said he believes the local officials were upset about “stories we’ve run that cast the sheriff’s office in an unfavorable light,” including the death of Bobby Barrick, a Broken Bow, Oklahoma, man who died at a hospital in March 2022 after McCurtain County deputies shot him with a stun gun. The newspaper has filed a lawsuit against the sheriff’s office seeking body camera footage and other records connected to Barrick’s death. Bruce Willingham said he has also turned over his audio recordings to the FBI and the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office and added he has had several conversations with federal investigators.

In a statement reported by KSLA, the NAACP applauded Stitt “for calling for the immediate resignation of the county elected official implicated in the news report and for an OSBI investigation of any actions taken against Black residents by them.” 

“In the wake of published news reports of the actions of McCurtain County elected officials and recorded statements which indicate that they have personal knowledge past civil rights violations and possible criminal violation and cover-up which they either participated in or failed to report to law enforcement authorities,” it said. “Clearly, they abused their authority and violated citizen’s [sic] civil rights. Their words and actions are indicative of Jim Crow era of the lynching African American, burning the bodies of African American, and police brutality.” 

Anthony R. Douglas, president of the NAACP Oklahoma State Conference, added that McCurtain County officials could not effectively perform their duties “while lacking introspection and the ability or willingness to recognize the reality of racism – including implicit bias, white privilege that sustains the status quo, and the adverse impact on people of color.”

More than 100 people gathered outside the McCurtain County Courthouse in Idabel on Monday, with many of them calling for the sheriff and other county officials to resign.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.