Tulsa District 4 crime rate went up last night

A newly elected city councilor had a personal lesson in policework last night when a thief ran away with her wallet during a victory party in downtown Tulsa.

Maria Barnes was celebrating her District 4 win over incumbent Eric Gomez at Casa Laredo, 403 S. Cheyenne Ave., when a man reached into her purse and made off with her billfold about 10:20 p.m., police said.

Barnes and a group of supporters chased after him to the 600 block of South Boulder, where officers took him into custody.

About five minutes later, officers arrested Jordan Lee Christ, 26. He was booked into the Tulsa Jail on complaints of petty larceny and public intoxication, according to his arrest report.

Police allege that Christ was extremely drunk and ran from the eatery after swiping the wallet.

Court records indicate that Christ has several previous convictions, including assault and battery, outraging public decency, peeping tom and larceny.

Tulsa NewsChannel 8's Burt Mummolo
was there and filed this report...

72 HOURS AND COUNTING FOR TULSA CITY ELECTION

Attention all Republicans

All hands on deck
For the 72 hour push
To get out the vote!

Meet Us at Dewey Bartlett's Headquarters
1648 S. Boston
(the corner of 17th and Boston)
starting at
10:00 am Saturday
1:00 pm Sunday

You will be assigned a neighborhood to knock on doors to remind people to vote on Tuesday November 10th and please vote for Dewey Bartlett for Tulsa Mayor We need volunteers to be in the neighborhoods throughout Tulsa this weekend!

Bring your friend, child, relative or neighbor to Headquarters on Saturday and Sunday to Help us comb the neighborhoods
Thank you!

Victoria Bartlett
527-1404 (cell)

Tulsa State Lawmakers Form Tulsa (Mafia) Caucus In Legislature

Two state lawmakers from Tulsa, State Rep. Eric Proctor and State Sen. Gary Stanislawski are forming a bipartisan (Mafia) caucus to promote the interests of Oklahoma's second largest city. (ie How much State Tax $$ can we get)

Gary Stanislawski say the new Tulsa (Mafia) Caucus is open to all Tulsa-area legislators and elected officials. It will meet before the end of the year to review legislative priorities. (If you Look like a Mob & Sound like a Mob then you are a Mafia)

Proctor, a Democrat, says Tulsa's needs are being crowded out at the state Capitol. He says it's important that the city's infrastructure needs are met. (Hey Eric, How about Tulsa pay for its own city's infrastructure!)

Stanislawski, a Republican, says Tulsa has been the main economic engine for Oklahoma for over 100 years. But Stanislawski says the city has been a net donor to Oklahoma's treasury. (Come on Gary, talk about a SPIN JOB!)

He says the new caucus wants to make sure Tulsa's interests are not overlooked. (ie making sure that the Tulsa Metro Chamber will not be overlooked)

Tulsa Public Works corruption

Two former managers in Tulsa’s Public Works Department and four area businessmen have been charged by a grand jury with bribery and kickback schemes involving millions of dollars intended for city streets, bridges and other public construction projects, federal officials announced Thursday.

The potential losses to the city could total nearly $4.5 million, according to some estimates, and Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor pledged full cooperation during the ongoing investigation and said the city had “zero tolerance” for corruption and misuse of funds anywhere in city government.

Four indictments unsealed Thursday, the result of a nearly two-year federal investigation, make the accusations against former city employees Larry Wayne Baker, 52, who was a design engineering manager, and Albert S. Martinez, 47, a former field engineering manager.

The four businessmen charged include Harlan Eugene Yocham of Sapulpa, Max Elliot Wolf of Owasso, Kenneth Kirk Shoemaker of Bartlesville and Stuart Jay Franklin of Claremore.

Yocham owns Yocham Enterprises; Wolf is president of Horizon Construction Co. Inc.; Shoemaker is president of FBS Inc. and an officer of FBS Engineers Inc., and Franklin is an accountant for FBS Inc.

“The allegations ... reflect schemes of graft and greed that deprive the city of Tulsa and the citizens of Tulsa of the honest services of certain city employees, and lined the pockets of both the employees and businessmen with ill-gotten proceeds of those corrupt schemes,” U.S. Attorney David E. O’Meilia said Thursday.

Specifically, the schemes were concocted to steer public works contracts to certain private businesses and to pay kickbacks to steer those contracts their way, the indictments allege.

While the total penalties were not set out in the indictments, some of the counts carry up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.
O’Meilia said there was no evidence of any substandard work or inspections performed on any of the projects in question. He also could not say what or who, such as a whistleblower, initially tipped off investigators to the alleged scheme.

All six defendants appeared before a federal magistrate Thursday and were released on personal recognizance bond and ordered to report to the U.S. Probation Office for pretrial supervision, said Randy Edgmon, a spokesman with the U.S. attorney’s office.

Attempts to reach Martinez were unsuccessful. When reached at his home, a man identifying himself as Baker called the allegations “false,” then hung up.

A message left at Yocham Enterprises was unreturned. An employee at Horizon Construction said he could not comment. A person who answered the phone at FBS Engineers hung up the phone when asked to comment on the allegations.

The indictments allege that:

– Shoemaker and Franklin bribed Martinez to use his vote and influence on a committee of the Public Works Department that awarded contracts for engineering inspection services on projects to FBS Engineers Inc. and FBS, Inc.

– Wolf and Martinez conspired to fraudulently cause the city to pay illegally inflated final payment invoices submitted by Horizon Construction Co. on public construction projects. Proceeds were then shared equally between the defendants

– Yocham paid Martinez a $10,000 bribe to influence a Tulsa Public Works Department committee to award contracts to Yocham’s company.

– Baker bribed a city employee with about $9,000 to influence his vote in awarding an inspection contract.

“I find it quite appalling,” said James E. Finch, special agent-in-charge in the FBI’s Oklahoma City Division Office. “It disgusts me when a public official betrays the trust and the confidence of the citizens of the U.S.

“The FBI will continue to dedicate significant resources to identifying, aggressively investigating and prosecuting those public officials who choose to betray the trust and the confidence of the public by abusing and exploiting their official positions for personal gain by engaging in criminal activity,” he said.

Former public works managers, businessmen indicted on bribery, fraud charges

US Attorney O'Meilia, calling this a "significant public corruption matter"

Two former managers in the city’s Public Works Department and four area businessmen have been charged in indictments unsealed today with allegedly participating in bribery and fraud schemes that purportedly involved millions of dollars intended for city streets, bridges and other public works projects.

Larry Wayne Baker, a 52-year-old former design engineering manager, and Albert S. Martinez, a 47-year-old former field engineering manager, are separately charged with either receiving or paying bribes to influence the awarding of contracts by the City of Tulsa for engineering consulting services.

Others charged with various related crimes include Harlan Eugene Yocham, 49, of Sapulpa; Max Elliot Wolf, 56, of Owasso; Kenneth Kirk Shoemaker, 46, of Bartlesville and 48-year-old Stuart Jay Franklin of Claremore.

There are four indictments involved.