Jaclyn Cosgrove
The Oklahoman
PAULS VALLEY, Okla. — A Garvin County transport deputy was fired after telling an inmate to dress as a fellow deputy and help him transport U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.
Ted Williams, 45, was assigned to transport Aaron R. Hull, 35, on April 11 to Garvin County after Hull was arrested in Payne County for not paying court fines on a misdemeanor drug charge.
While on their way to Garvin County, at about 12:45 p.m., Williams told Hull to put on a solid black windbreaker jacket and a deputy sheriff ball cap, according to jail inspection records from the state Health Department.
Next, Williams removed Hull’s restraints and had Hull help handle federal immigration detainees at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Oklahoma City. At one point, Hull was left unattended without restraints, according to Health Department records.
After they finished, Williams allowed Hull to sit in the front of the transport van. When they returned, Hull met with the Garvin County jail administrator to tell him about the incident.
In Williams’ termination letter, Garvin County Sheriff Larry Rhodes called Williams’ actions “inexcusable.”
“You explained this was done to meet a contract requirement that two deputies should be present when transporting detainees,” Sheriff Larry Rhodes wrote in Williams’ termination letter.
“Your actions were in direct violations of acceptable officer safety practices during the course of your duties as a transport deputy, as well as deceptive in performing your job.”
Williams was fired April 14, records show. He did not respond to requests for comment.
A complaint made to the state Health Department alleged that Williams gave Hull a gun while the inmate helped the deputy.
Rhodes said that claim was “absurd.”
Video surveillance from the immigration facility shows that Hull never had a gun, Rhodes said.
Rhodes said while interviewing Williams, they asked him why he asked the inmate to assist him.
Another deputy was driving from McAlester to meet Williams, but Williams told him that he had the situation handled.
Under the sheriff’s office’s contract with the federal immigration agency, there must be two deputies present.
“The other deputy was coming from the McAlester area and was an hour and 10 minutes from Oklahoma City, and my theory of trying to make sense of this is that Ted didn’t want to wait,” Rhodes said.
Rhodes said his office has policies and procedures for transport, but Williams disregarded those policies.
“I’m embarrassed about it, I’m mad about it, and if I could have stopped it, if I would have been there, I can tell you it wouldn’t have happened,” Rhodes said.
Williams was a transport deputy, different from a field deputy who takes calls from the dispatcher and investigates crimes.
He worked at the Garvin County Sheriff’s Office for about four years, as a jailer in 2011 and then later returning as a transport deputy.
No state or federal charges have been filed against him, officials said.
Copyright 2016 The Oklahoman