Last week, wave after wave of developing stories crashed the web and social media sites after Pottawatomie and Lincoln County District Attorney Allan Grub was subpoenaed to testify before the Multi-county Grand Jury. This week, however, it has been eerily quiet.
Things are still happening as documents are filed to compel Grubb to appear in court and counterfeited to have the motions dismissed.
After multiple attempts to avoid testimony were denied, Grubb did appear before the Grand Jury on Thursday morning, July 21, and is scheduled to make a second appearance on Aug. 16.
In the meantime, another flurry of paperwork began hitting the Pottawatomie County Court Clerks’ office Friday, July 22, after an order determining venue and jurisdiction was filed and Attorney General John O’Connor received an order of appointment designating him or his designees as the prosecutors for any future proceedings in this matter.
Grubb’s attorneys, Robert Gifford and David McKenzie, filed a motion to strike the appointment of O’Connor or, in the alternative, disqualify and recuse the AG’s office due to a conflict of interest.
The court document states that the AG’s office represents Grubb in a pending matter in the US District Court in the Western District of Oklahoma. It says the AG’s office failed to disclose to the US District Court Judge that they were seeking legal action against their own client.
The conclusion of the motion to strike states, “…The order appointing the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office in this matter should be immediately stricken, and their office should be immediately disqualified and recused and sanctioned for violations of professional ethics.”
A copy of the Accusation for Removal was also released to the media and is now a matter of public record after being filed at the Pottawatomie County Courthouse at the end of last week.
KFOR news reported it had received a statement from Grubb’s attorneys that said this was an “unauthorized disclosure that demands for investigation. We have notified the presiding judge of the multi-county grand jury and will be demanding dismissal of this multi-county grand jury due to misconduct by the Oklahoma Attorney General. This illegal disclosure by a grand jury is a crime being committed by state employees, but unfortunately, the law in Oklahoma is being ignored by those we expect to enforce it.”
Channel 9 news stated it received a copy from the AGs office.
Four local judges, Special District Judge Emily Mueller, Special District Judge David Cawthon, Associate District Judge Tracy McDaniel, and District Judge Cindy Ferrell Ashwood, recused themselves from the case on Tuesday, July 26.
A hearing on the Grand Jury’s Accusation For Removal and request for immediate suspension is to be held in courtroom 1 on Aug. 8 before Judge John Canavan, Jr.
Grubb, who lost the election in June to David Hammer, only has five months remaining in office. But the Grand Jury asks for his immediate suspension. The Accusation for Removal contains nine pages of reasons it believes Grubb should be removed from office now.
Hammer passed away five days after the election.
The three counts cited are habitual or willful neglect of duty, oppression in office, and corruption in office.
Some of the more detailed reasons include alleged inappropriate use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements, failure to disclose his personal relationship with relatives of perpetrators, dismissing cases, or setting up DPAs before or without informing victims.
The document states that Grubb did “intentionally, knowingly, and willfully or habitually execute deferred prosecution agreements in a manner that is contrary to the public interest… by habitually failing to require offenders to obtain drug and alcohol assessment….”
As for the oppression in office, the document states Grubb “allowed…an employee of Glen Allan Grubb, to make repeated threats of violence and other statements designed to cause fear to LaTrenda Sanders…
Another statement reads that Grubb verbally demeaned, harassed, and insulted LaTrenda Sanders on a regular basis in his capacity as a public official. Additional information in the Accusation for Removal alleged that Grubb sexually harrassed more than one female employee of the Unzner Child Advocacy Center and was informed of a male employee doing the same.
Also, the document says, “Grubb informed LaTrenda Sanders that there was no money in prosecuting child abuse cases on multiple occasions including but not limited to an occasion when LaTrenda Sanders contacted…Grubb about the importance of prosecutors watching forensic interviews on cases involving child abuse in preparation for court proceedings.
More than one bulleted point alleges Grubb ordered or attempted to have victims arrested. It also states he ordered the criminal investigation of Pottawatomie County Deputy Scott Hawkins “for retaliatory effect” due to “Hawkin’s perception of Allan Grubb’s treatment of victims.
The document states that sometime between November 1, 2019, and Sep 30, 2021, “Grubb obtained a Cellebrite machine for the District Attorney’s Office for personal gain to search personal cellphones of employees who were acting unfavorably toward him.
Grubb’s attorneys have publicly denied the allegations. The Countywide & Sun reached out to Grubb before the story came out in the July 21 edition and received a two word reply, “gag order.”
We will reach out to his attorneys for next week’s edition.
