The former town manager of West Siloam Springs, Okla., who is facing allegations of misusing city funds, will face a criminal investigation in connection with embezzlement, a county prosecutor said.
The West Siloam Springs Board of Trustees will meet for their first meeting of the month on Monday night, which will consist of a discussion of what steps should be taken in response to the allegations against Kathy Osbourn. Osbourn served as town manager for 14 months and was accused last month of using $147,110 of city funds to pay for a wide range of personal items and services; including a $2,700 outdoor television, a payment to a student loan account, auto repairs, gasoline and more than 150 purchases to local restaurants, according to the findings of an independent audit presented during the board's Dec. 10 meeting.
At the end of this meeting, the board approved a recommendation from City Attorney Jot Hartley to table further discussion of the item until its January meeting to ensure due process rights remain protected and to allow Osbourn and her attorney, Winston Connor, to appear and confront the allegations. After the meeting, Hartley said in an interview that whether criminal charges would be filed or not would be ultimately up to the board and could not confirm whether she would be charged or not.
Since that time, Hartley said that neither he nor the city has heard from Osbourn or her attorney. Attempts to reach Connor's office have been unsuccessful and an employee of the firm, Josh Brewer, said that all inquiries to or about Connor should be directed to his attorney, Stanley Monroe, who is representing Connor as the defendant in a separate criminal case. Attempts to reach Monroe went unanswered before press time.
No matter what happens during Monday night's meeting, Delaware County Prosecutor Kenny Wright said that the city has no control over whether charges would be filed and that cities and municipalities have a legal obligation to report these types of incidents to the Delaware County Sheriff's Office or the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) within a certain time frame, which was exceeded weeks ago, he said.
"I'm honestly not sure what (West Siloam Springs is) doing. ... But I will ensure that this gets investigated from a criminal standpoint," Wright said. "That will absolutely happen and if they (West Siloam Springs) don't report it in the near future, I will request the OSBI to investigate and if there's sufficient evidence we will certainly file charges, and even if the OSBI doesn't officially request an investigation, I will make sure that it gets investigated with their assistance.
"... I haven't gotten far enough to say that there's a timeline, so if the city doesn't take action and report it to law enforcement (OSBI or Delaware County Sheriff's Office) following a couple weeks after that meeting (on Jan. 21), then I'll initiate it myself. They have no control over whether criminal charges are filed and I'm honestly not sure what they're doing thinking they do. I will ensure that this will not get swept under the rug."
Wright emphasized, however, that cases of this nature can take a long time, sometimes as long as two years. In response to Wright's comments, Hartley said that it is his opinion that Monday night's agenda potentially contains items related to punitive measures.
He declined to say whether the city intends to report the incident to the authorities that Wright mentioned and said instead that people should keep in mind that Monday night's meeting should be viewed as a "due process hearing," that is being held for the purpose of affording Osbourn her right to due process. West Siloam Springs Mayor, Elaine Carr, confirmed that the city had not reported the incident to either of the authorities named above, and declined to comment on all other inquiries.
This meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 21, at City Hall, 4880 Cedar Drive.
General News on 01/20/2019