A former personal injury attorney in Norman was sentenced last month for embezzling from the settlements of his clients.
Duane Thomas Wilson, 61, was a personal injury attorney until 2012, when the Oklahoma Supreme Court accepted his resignation amid allegations that he was stealing from a client trust account. He was indicted on federal charges of wire fraud and failure to file a tax return.
In February 2016, Wilson pleaded guilty to both charges. He admitted in his plea that from December 2010 through December 31, 2011, while practicing law as a licensed attorney, he committed fraud by misappropriating client settlement or judgment funds to his personal use. He admitted to depositing client benefit funds into a trust account, from which he wrote checks to himself, made cash withdrawals, and transferred money in excess of his contractually entitled attorney's fees. Because of his actions, some clients received less than the settlement or judgment due to them, and in some cases, received none of the money to which they were entitled from their lawsuits.
Wilson further admitted in his plea that he willfully failed to file a 2011 federal income tax return.
Last month, United States District Judge Timothy D. DeGuisti sentenced Wilson to 30 months in federal prison for wire fraud and failure to file a tax return. Earlier this week, Judge DeGuisti also ordered Wilson to pay restitution to his former clients, the Oklahoma Bar Association, and the IRS.
Wilson must pay $141,772.01 to 19 former clients, in various amounts ranging from approximately $200 to over $75,000.
Additionally, he must pay $329,398.70 to the OBA to reimburse them for money paid out through the Client Security Fund, a fund established by the Oklahoma Supreme Court in order to reimburse clients who lose money or property through an attorney's dishonest conduct.
Finally, he must pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $53,836 for taxes and penalties related to his failure to file a federal income tax return for the tax year 2011.
As in most cases, the embezzlement reportedly stemmed from a case of addiction. Often, these white collar crimes are fueled by gambling addictions, shopping addictions, or drug addiction. Wilson's defense lawyer told the court that his client's actions were the result of "an alcoholic downward spiral."
In general, the maximum penalty for a federal wire fraud conviction is 20 years in prison. However, if the crime involves defrauding a financial institution or a presidentially declared disaster or emergency (such as FEMA fraud), the maximum penalty is 30 years in prison.
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If you have a criminal record for conviction of a misdemeanor or felony in Oklahoma, there is a good chance you have found your employment opportunities limited. As you fill out your job application, you are confronted by the question, "Have you ever been convicted of a crime?" And if that crime has not been expunged, then you must answer, "Yes," knowing that this single question could rule you out as a candidate for the job, no matter how well-qualified you are.
Several cities and states have enacted "Fair Chance" initiatives or "Ban the Box" laws which prohibit prospective employers from asking about prior misdemeanor and felony conviction so early in the hiring process.
Los Angeles, California, has become one of the most recent states to pass a fair chance initiative, and its new "ban the box" law will take effect later this month. According to the National Law Review, the new L.A. law looks like this:
Not every criminal conviction is alike, and not all criminal records warrant continued punishment through an inability to find a good job. Certainly, these "criminal backgrounds" are deserving of a closer look to determine if they will have any bearing on a person's ability to do the job or if they pose any risk to fellow employees or customers.
Oklahoma has not yet passed ban the box or fair chance laws, but those with criminal records may be able to find relief through record expungement. In some cases, state law makes an expungement "as if it never happened," allowing people with expunged records to state lawfully on employment applications that they have never been convicted of a crime.
Read more about Oklahoma expungement laws, or call 405-417-3847 to speak with an expungement lawyer about clearing your record.
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Police have made an arrest in the shooting of a Valley Brook police officer during a New Year's Day traffic stop.
On Sunday evening around 5:30 p.m. Valley Brook Police Officer Brian Southerland pulled over a Chevy Avalanche on I-240 and Pole Road, just east of Eastern Avenue. Officer Southerland approached the vehicle and spoke with the driver, but as he returned to his police cruiser, the driver of the Avalanche began firing at him multiple times.
Southerland was struck in the leg, hitting the femoral artery and causing life-threatening bleeding. An Oklahoma County sheriff's deputy on the scene was able to apply a tourniquet to slow the bleeding, and Southerland was transported to a local hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Another bullet struck a westbound vehicle's windshield, but fortunately, no one in that vehicle was injured.
The Avalanche sped off and was later found abandoned at a nearby Toys R Us, and the suspect was identified as Cory Lee Hartsell, 27.
Hartsell was arrested during a traffic stop the next evening. He is held in the Oklahoma County Jail on complaints of two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm after prior felony conviction, shooting with intent to kill, trafficking in illegal drugs, and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Hartsell has a criminal record spanning Oklahoma County, Washington Count, and McClain County. His prior convictions include grand larceny and grand larceny from a person, meth possession, copper stealing, possession of a controlled dangerous substance, and possession of a stolen vehicle. He spent six months in prison in 2009, and spent just over two years in prison between March 2014 and August 2016.
If convicted, his next prison stint will likely be much longer. Assault and battery with a deadly weapon and shooting with intent to kill are each punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison. They are "85 Percent Crimes," which means that any person convicted of either of these crimes must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Read more about 85 percent crimes here.
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In an interesting case out of Oklahoma County, prosecutors have dismissed the murder charge against a man who walked into a police station and confessed to killing his wife.
In August 2015, Jimmy Andrew Hankins walked into an Oklahoma City police station and said he had to confess to his wife's murder because he "could no longer live with the guilt" of killing her. Hankins reportedly told authorities that he had become tired of caring for his ill wife, who suffered from dementia and other medical conditions. He confessed that, in July 2014, he smothered her with a pillow before a therapist was scheduled to arrive so that the death would appear to be from natural causes. Police say he told them that he had previously tried to kill her through other means, including doubling her prescription medications and unhooking her oxygen, but when those methods failed, he relied on suffocation to end her life.
Police arrested Hankins, who then recanted his confession less than 24 hours after his arrest. Hankins said he was suffering from psychotic delusions and that he did not kill his wife, who had, in fact, died in July 2014.
The case against Hankins was complicated because there was no body to corroborate or disprove his confession. Because the woman's death was determined to be from natural causes, there was no autopsy. After her death, the woman's body was cremated.
After Hankins's arrest, First Assistant District Attorney Scott Rowland said, "It is possible to prosecute a homicide when you don't have a body. Prosecuting a murder case when there is no body is basically the same [as when there is a body]. You just look at the evidence to prove the unlawful death of a human being and that the unlawful death was caused by him." Rowland said a body is "a key piece of evidence," but "not essential."
However, since that time, the absence of a body has proved to be a critical sticking point in the case. During the investigation, prosecutors have been unable to uncover any evidence that would corroborate Hankins's August 2015 confession: there was no physical evidence (body) to corroborate homicide; there was no doctor who could say the woman's death was unexpected; there were no witness who could testify that they heard Hankins discussing any plans to end his wife's life. Without corroborating evidence, prosecutors were forced to dismiss the case.
Rowland said of the dismissal, " This case isn't being dismissed because he no longer stands behind his confession. This case is being dismissed because I believe we are ethically and legally required to do so. Our best efforts for a year have failed to produce evidence to corroborate his confession, which is required under the law."
However, the prosecutor furthers that there is no statute of limitations on murder, so if corroborating evidence ever surfaces, the District Attorney's Office will refile the murder charge against Hankins.
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Police say a habitual sex offender has raped another woman, nearly three months to the day after his release from prison.
On December 14, Cleveland County Sheriff's deputies were called to Integris Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where a 27-year-old woman was seeking treatment after an apparent rape.
The woman told investigators that Mark Anthony Tullis, 52, of Noble, picked her up in a parking lot the previous day and took her to a shed he was using as a residence. The woman says Tullis kept her there overnight against her will. He is accused of raping her at knifepoint and attempting to strangle her with a cell phone charging cord.
Deputies arrested Tullis on December 15 and booked him into the Cleveland County Jail, where he is held on $3 million bond on a first degree rape complaint.
The suspect is a registered sex offender with multiple sex crime convictions. According to Oklahoma Department of Corrections records, Tullis was first convicted of first degree rape in 1986 in Oklahoma County, and he was sentenced to five years of probation.
In 1990, just four months before his probation in the 1986 case would have ended, Tullis was again convicted of sex crimes. This time, he was convicted of first degree rape and forcible sodomy. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with the last five years suspended on both counts, with both sentences to run concurrently.
In 2004, he was again convicted of sex crimes: lewd molestation and indecent exhibitions. He remained in prison until September 12, 2016. Three months and three days later, he was behind bars again, accused of yet another rape.
Many people believe that sex offenders are habitual offenders and that they are at high risk of re-offense. Typically, this belief is not true. In fact, the rate of recidivism among sex offenders is lower than that for other crimes. However, there are those habitual offenders who will continue to commit sex crimes as long as they are free and able to do so. It seems that, if the allegations against him are true, the defendant in this case is one of those--a true habitual sex offender.
Click here to learn more about how Oklahoma's "risk level assessment" for sex offenders and the registration requirements for each level.
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After a preliminary hearing earlier this month, an Oklahoma County judge has ordered a 17-year-old boy to stand trial for first degree murder and armed robbery.
Samuel Edward Myers, of Foster, is accused of robbing GI's Market in Midwest City in September before fatally shooting the store clerk on duty. Myers allegedly robbed the store of $200 and shot Salman "Sam" Tahir, 33, in the back, even as the clerk complied with his demands. A customer came into the store after the shooter left, finding Tahir lying wounded. The clerk was transported to a local hospital, where he died of his injuries.
Within days, police identified Myers as a suspect and arrested him at a relative's home. Myers is charged as an adult with first degree murder and robbery with a firearm.
In a preliminary hearing in the case, a friend of Myers testified that the teen had been flashing cash the day of the robbery, but refused to say where he got it. The friend told him to leave because he "didn't want that in his grandma's house." After Myers left, the friend found a gun in his house, which he hid in his bedroom. Police found the gun during a search warrant and connected it to the murder. Live rounds from the weapon were traced to Myers's DNA.
At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing Oklahoma County Special Judge Larry Shaw ordered Myers to stand trial for first degree murder and armed robbery. Myers has pleaded not guilty.
The teen is charged as an adult in the case, under an Oklahoma law that requires teens aged 15, 16, or 17 who are charged with first degree murder to be tried as adults. Juveniles aged 13 or 14 may be charged as adults or certified as youthful offenders.
In most cases, a minor aged 15-17 charged with armed robbery would be tried as a youthful offender, which serves as an interim between juvenile prosecution and adult prosecution. This status recognizes that a crime may be more serious than typical juvenile crimes and in need of harsher punishment, but still considers the age of the defendant and his or her potential for rehabilitation. However, the state also says of juvenile prosecution,"Once an adult, always an adult." Since the defendant in this case is charged as an adult for first degree murder, his robbery charge is also given adult status.
First degree murder is punishable by life in prison or life without parole. However, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals recently ruled that a minor cannot be sentenced to life without parole unless it is proven in court that the defendant is "irreparably corrupt and permanently incorrigible."
Robbery or attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon or imitation firearm is punishable by a minimum of 5 years in prison.
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The Custer County District Attorney's Office has announced that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a man accused of killing two people in a shooting spree along Interstate 40 in western Oklahoma.
At a preliminary hearing last week, witnesses testified at a preliminary hearing for Jeremy Doss Hardy, 37, a Texas oilfield worker accused of shooting at several people along I-40 in a shooting spree on December 16-17, 2015.
Custer County Special Judge Donna Dirickson ruled on Friday that there was sufficient evidence to bind Hardy over for trial, and prosecutors immediately notified the defendant's attorney that they would be seeking the death penalty in the case. Both the Custer County District Attorney and the Caddo County District Attorney signed the bill of particulars signifying their intent to pursue capital punishment.
The case began shortly before midnight on December 16, 2015, when police in towns along I-40 in Canadian County and Custer County began receiving calls about a pickup truck trying to ram other vehicles and firing shots. The suspect hit one man as he and his wife drove home from the Oklahoma City airport. The man was able to pull the vehicle over to the side of the road, but he died at mile marker 93 while his wife frantically tried to get help. She testified about the ordeal at the preliminary hearing.
Hardy is accused of firing at several other drivers before he was apprehended, and one other driver was killed as she drove. Police found a woman dead in her vehicle at an interstate exit near Weatherford.
Hardy admitted that he had been drinking prior to the incident, and he was reportedly determined to have a blood alcohol concentration of 0.16. He has not given any motive for the shootings. When he was arrested, he denied having a gun, despite having a holster, an empty pistol magazine, five rounds of ammunition in a pistol magazine, one loose live round, and 28 empty shell casings in his truck.
An officer reported seeing the driver of the truck throw something out of the vehicle, and a 9mm pistol reportedly belonging to Hardy was found in the area.
So far, no motive has been established in the shooting spree.
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An Oklahoma couple was arrested last week after taking their 9-month-old twins to an urgent care facility with signs of severe neglect.
Reports say nurses at the health care facility called police after the babies were brought in looking skeletal and having significant diaper rash and bedsores. Police say a nurse told them that one infant had feces in her ear, and that a maggot crawled from the genitals of another while nurses examined her.
When police questioned the children's mother, identified as Aislyn Miller, 24, she told them that she knew her daughters were not doing well, but said that she and their father, Kevin Fowler, 25, are new parents and did not know how to care for the babies. She told police that she had not brought the twins to the doctor since their birth because they did not have health care insurance.
Police then visited the home, where they say conditions were consistent with neglect, citing "a lot of clutter and animal feces and things like that inside the house," according to Owasso Deputy Chief Jason Woodruff.
The parents were arrested on child abuse complaints, and the twins and two older children living in the home were taken into DHS custody.
Oklahoma law prohibits and penalizes the abuse, neglect, exploitation, and sexual abuse of children in 21 O.S. § 843.5. Under this statute, child abuse or neglect, and enabling child abuse or neglect, are punishable by a maximum of life in prison. Child abuse is an 85 percent crime, which means that anyone convicted of child abuse or neglect must serve at least 85 percent of his or her sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
State law provides definitions of abuse and neglect in the Children and Juvenile Code, 10A O.S. § 1-1-105:
Resources are available for parents having difficulty in caring for their children and for those who are unable to afford health insurance for their children. Find out about SoonerCare (Oklahoma Medicaid) from the Oklahoma Health Care Authority. Learn more about SoonerStart for children under 3 and their parents.
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Each year around the holidays, there seems to be a spike in DUI arrests and crashes. Although the Fourth of July currently ranks as the deadliest driving day in the United States, the holiday season running from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day certainly includes more than its fair share of DUI accidents and arrests.
Because so many people will be attending holiday parties--and many people will be drinking alcohol at these parties--law enforcement agencies around Oklahoma set up DUI roadblocks in an effort to take impaired drivers off the streets. (However, these sobriety checkpoints typically yield far more arrests for outstanding warrants than for drunk driving.)
While the holiday season, and New Year's Eve in particular, may have an unfair rap for being the worst time for DUI nationally, it is not inaccurate to say that the season is riskier for travelers than most other times of the year. And in Oklahoma, the New Year holiday still has the highest traffic fatality rate. The Oklahoma Highway Safety Office (OHSO) provides a list of holiday traffic fatalities in 2015:
According to these statistics, the New Year holiday still has the highest rate of traffic fatalities in Oklahoma, at 0.20 deaths per hour. And clearly, the holiday season is a dangerous time for drivers and passengers, with 22 people losing their lives on Oklahoma roads between Thanksgiving and the New Year. Of these holiday fatalities, 12 deaths were the result of alcohol-involved crashes. Another 78 people were injured in fall/winter holiday DUI wrecks in Oklahoma in 2015.
Avoid a DUI arrest--or worse, a DUI accident--this season by refraining from driving after drinking. Always find a safe and sober ride home.
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An Oklahoma fugitive wanted on multiple sex abuse complaints in Garvin County was arrested last week by U.S. Marshals in Mexico.
In February 2015, a Garvin County judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Billy Wayne Durfey, 43, on 12 counts of sexual abuse of a child. Before police could execute the warrant for Durfey's arrest, the suspect fled.
Several months ago, U.S. Marshals became aware that their suspect was possibly living in Mexico. The Marshals began working with authorities in Mexico to locate and apprehend Durfey.
On Wednesday, federal agents arrested Durfey in Monterey, Mexico. He was brought back to the United States and held in Laredo, Texas, while awaiting extradition to Oklahoma to face sex abuse charges.
The original case against Durfey began in August 2012, when he was charged with three counts of first degree rape, two counts of second degree rape, four counts of forcible sodomy, and one count of lewd molestation. A year later, the charges were amended to 12 counts of child sexual abuse. According to court records, a preliminary hearing determined there was sufficient evidence to order trial for the defendant on allegations that he sexually molested a child under 18 for whom he was responsible for the health, safety, and welfare. The alleged sex abuse took place between August 2011 and August 2012.
In December 2014, a Garvin County judge issued a warrant for Durfey's arrest after he failed to appear for a court date. In February 2015, the defendant was charged with felony bail jumping.
Bail jumping is a felony punishable by up to one year in prison, according to 22 O.S. § 1110. The penalties for child sexual abuse are obviously much more severe.
According to 21 O.S. § 843.5, each count of child sexual abuse is a felony punishable by a maximum of life in prison. If the child involved is under the age of 12, however, the crime is punishable by a minimum of 25 years. Child sexual abuse is a Level 3 sex offense that requires anyone convicted of the crime to register for life as an Oklahoma sex offender.
Learn more about Oklahoma child sex abuse laws here.
To read more about sex offender registration in Oklahoma, visit here.
