As the audio release from the Gazette’s investigation into the sheriff’s department’s corruption nears the end of its second week, with only one of four officials in question having resigned, there was much panic among local law enforcement Wednesday morning, according to sources.
Some time on Tuesday a call came into the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Department dispatch, which was initially perceived as a threat against the children of law enforcement here, sources say.
The initial information was that the children of law enforcement were going to be targeted if Sheriff Kevin Clardy, Captain Alicia Manning and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix didn’t resign.
“And they just sat on it,” said one source, saying the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Department didn’t alert any other agencies, the FBI or Homeland Security’s Fusion Center, which tracks threats to law enforcement nationwide.
Early Wednesday, a sheriff’s deputy leaked the information about the call to an officer in another agency, who was alarmed and began telling other officers locally.
Countywide officers began to pull their children out of school Wednesday around 10:30 a.m. as the news spread among law enforcement.
Other agencies began contacting the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Department, demanding to know the context of the phone call in question.
Sheriff’s department administration then allowed other agencies to hear the recorded call which reportedly said, “If you don’t want your children to know how f****** stupid you are, you all need to resign. We are going to show your children how stupid you are,” according to received information. The dispatcher then asked if the caller was threatening children and the person hung up.
Tensions were high Wednesday among law enforcement here.
