Mjcpr
2/1/2006, 02:59 PM
....I'm pretty sure.
Pair are again indicted
WAGONER -- A former prosecutor and an office aide for District Attorney Richard Gray were named again in state multicounty grand jury indictments that were unsealed Tuesday in Wagoner County District Court.
The counts accuse former Assistant District Attorney Janet Bickel, 49, of offering false evidence related to a drug case and of possessing methamphetamine.
Bickel worked in Gray's office until last month.
Vyrl Keeter, 74, who was Gray's office administrator and served with his drug task force, was charged with two counts of asking a witness to lie to the multicounty grand jury.
He will face one charge in Wagoner County and the other in Cherokee County.
Keeter was placed on administrative leave Tuesday.
Gray, who is attending a conference in California, said the leave will be in effect until he returns to his office Friday.
Counts accusing Bickel and Keeter of perjury were unsealed Monday in Oklahoma County District Court. Those charges allege that the two lied to the grand jury in Oklahoma City.
The state multicounty panel issued six indictments involving seven people last week, reports show.
The final indictment will be unsealed Friday in Oklahoma County, but it is not known whether that charge has anything to do with Gray's office. Assistant Attorney General Joel-lyn McCormick said witness information dates Bickel's alleged drug use back about 10 years. She also said the probe likely was not finished with regard to Gray's office.
"I expect the investigation will continue . . . regarding District 27," she said.
Gray oversees prosecutions in District 27, which covers Wagoner, Cherokee, Sequoyah and Adair counties. He was elected in 2002.
The grand jury indictments that were unsealed Tuesday allege that investigators discovered that a small plastic bag of purported methamphetamine was missing after having been seized during the February 2005 search of a Tahlequah home.
About five days later, Bickel reportedly told Gray that she found the drugs in her purse and returned them to his Wagoner office.
Law enforcement officers and another prosecutor who was close to the drug search, however, identified the returned bag of methamphetamine "as not being the same that was taken from the location where the search warrant was executed," the indictment read.
Bickel offered drug evidence that "she knew to be false" to "cover up the fact that she had taken the original item," according to the charge.
"Further, the defendant provided false evidence with the knowledge that said evidence would be or could be used in a prosecution against another subject."
Bickel's attorney, Donn Baker, argued that Bickel is the victim of a plot that possibly was hatched by other law enforcement officers.
"We're talking about an outstanding career prosecutor who's obviously made some enemies," he said.
The Cherokee County indictment on a charge of attempted subornation of perjury alleges that Keeter told a witness to testify before the multicounty grand jury "that you can't remember."
Keeter is accused of telling the witness that he used the same tactic in a previous grand jury appearance.
Keeter also allegedly advised a witness to testify that "static electricity caused items to stick together and that is why the evidence was taken from the scene of a search warrant," the Wagoner County indictment says.
Keeter became Gray's drug task force director in January 2003.
In 2002, a state investigation looked into allegations that Keeter double-dipped on travel-expense claims while working simultaneously on then-U.S. Rep. Brad Carson's staff and as a state wildlife commissioner.
Keeter denied any wrongdoing but stepped down from both jobs. He repaid the state about $6,650, reports show.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/images/2006/060201_A9_Paira62934_a9vyrl.jpg
http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=060201_Ne_A9_Paira62934
Pair are again indicted
WAGONER -- A former prosecutor and an office aide for District Attorney Richard Gray were named again in state multicounty grand jury indictments that were unsealed Tuesday in Wagoner County District Court.
The counts accuse former Assistant District Attorney Janet Bickel, 49, of offering false evidence related to a drug case and of possessing methamphetamine.
Bickel worked in Gray's office until last month.
Vyrl Keeter, 74, who was Gray's office administrator and served with his drug task force, was charged with two counts of asking a witness to lie to the multicounty grand jury.
He will face one charge in Wagoner County and the other in Cherokee County.
Keeter was placed on administrative leave Tuesday.
Gray, who is attending a conference in California, said the leave will be in effect until he returns to his office Friday.
Counts accusing Bickel and Keeter of perjury were unsealed Monday in Oklahoma County District Court. Those charges allege that the two lied to the grand jury in Oklahoma City.
The state multicounty panel issued six indictments involving seven people last week, reports show.
The final indictment will be unsealed Friday in Oklahoma County, but it is not known whether that charge has anything to do with Gray's office. Assistant Attorney General Joel-lyn McCormick said witness information dates Bickel's alleged drug use back about 10 years. She also said the probe likely was not finished with regard to Gray's office.
"I expect the investigation will continue . . . regarding District 27," she said.
Gray oversees prosecutions in District 27, which covers Wagoner, Cherokee, Sequoyah and Adair counties. He was elected in 2002.
The grand jury indictments that were unsealed Tuesday allege that investigators discovered that a small plastic bag of purported methamphetamine was missing after having been seized during the February 2005 search of a Tahlequah home.
About five days later, Bickel reportedly told Gray that she found the drugs in her purse and returned them to his Wagoner office.
Law enforcement officers and another prosecutor who was close to the drug search, however, identified the returned bag of methamphetamine "as not being the same that was taken from the location where the search warrant was executed," the indictment read.
Bickel offered drug evidence that "she knew to be false" to "cover up the fact that she had taken the original item," according to the charge.
"Further, the defendant provided false evidence with the knowledge that said evidence would be or could be used in a prosecution against another subject."
Bickel's attorney, Donn Baker, argued that Bickel is the victim of a plot that possibly was hatched by other law enforcement officers.
"We're talking about an outstanding career prosecutor who's obviously made some enemies," he said.
The Cherokee County indictment on a charge of attempted subornation of perjury alleges that Keeter told a witness to testify before the multicounty grand jury "that you can't remember."
Keeter is accused of telling the witness that he used the same tactic in a previous grand jury appearance.
Keeter also allegedly advised a witness to testify that "static electricity caused items to stick together and that is why the evidence was taken from the scene of a search warrant," the Wagoner County indictment says.
Keeter became Gray's drug task force director in January 2003.
In 2002, a state investigation looked into allegations that Keeter double-dipped on travel-expense claims while working simultaneously on then-U.S. Rep. Brad Carson's staff and as a state wildlife commissioner.
Keeter denied any wrongdoing but stepped down from both jobs. He repaid the state about $6,650, reports show.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/images/2006/060201_A9_Paira62934_a9vyrl.jpg
http://www.tulsaworld.com/NewsStory.asp?ID=060201_Ne_A9_Paira62934