Sheriff arrested after $6,000 in donated school supplies vanish, Okla. prosecutors say

An Oklahoma sheriff was arrested Wednesday after $6,000 in donated school supplies — which he was supposed to deliver — failed to make it to area schools, prosecutors said.

District Attorney Kevin Buchanan said that Nowata County Sheriff Kenny Freeman, 43, instead handed out the donated school supplies at a campaign booth for his own election, the Tulsa World reports.

Freeman, 43, faces one count of felony embezzlement, KTUL reports. He was booked at a jail in nearby Washington County, which is also in northeastern Oklahoma.

Freeman’s time as sheriff got off to a rocky start after he was appointed in February, News On 6 reports: His very first day, four deputies left — and later that month, an inmate mistakenly got loose for nearly two days. In July, a county emergency dispatcher was accused of sleeping at work and ignoring 911 calls, according to the TV station.

For years, Freeman had been a dispatcher and deputy in Nowata County. But Freeman was fired from his job as a deputy, KTUL reports.

“It was kind of a mutual understanding,” Freeman said, according to KTUL. “I was going one way, he was going the other. We weren’t getting along very well.”

He was working as a courthouse janitor when he was made sheriff, in part because no one else applied for the open sheriff’s job, KTUL reports.

“Mopping floors, cleaning toilets, just like any other janitor,” Freeman told the TV station, saying he was hestitant to become sheriff. “Now that I’m here [as sheriff] giving it a try, I think this is something I do want to do. I really miss law enforcement, and I love the job.”

The district attorney said Freeman had been responsible for bringing the donated supplies to Nowata and South Coffeyville schools by Sept. 13, the World reports.

On Sept. 14, the Facebook page Kenny Freeman is Nowata County’s Sheriff posted a picture of a handful of lunch boxes on a table, next to a sign that appears to read: “Vote to keep Sheriff Kenny Freeman.”

“At our booth we have free lunch boxes for kids with crayons and colored pencils as well as comp books,” the post said. “There is about 96 lunch boxes first come first serve. Its about absolutely free.”

The post was shared by the Nowata County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page as well.

Special agents from Oklahoma’s bureau of investigation arrested Freeman, the World reports.

This story was originally published October 17, 2018 at 3:16 PM with the headline "Sheriff arrested after $6,000 in donated school supplies vanish, Okla. prosecutors say."