DA, TEAM NAMED IN MORE SUITS

Audit findings State audit findings regarding forfeiture documents in
Muskogee County District Attorney John David Luton's office issued more
than a year ago include:

Notice of seizure was not filed for all items seized and sold by the
district attorney.

Seized property was not sold nor recorded on the district attorney's
inventory records.

Seized property was returned to "rightful" owners without any court action
or record of the "rightful owners" claim to the property.

Seized property was converted to district use without a court order.

Seized property converted to district use was not recorded on inventory
records.

Two civil racketeering lawsuits filed Wednesday in federal court claim the
Muskogee County district attorney, his chief of staff and drug task force
members illegally seized and sold private property.

The suits cite violations of RICO, the federal Racketeering Influenced
Corrupt Organization Act.

Oklahoma City attorney Robert Haupt had filed a similar suit in U.S.
District Court in Muskogee in July on behalf of a Muskogee mechanic, Kimm
Bushey.

That first suit alleges District Attorney John David Luton and Gary Sturm,
Luton's chief of staff, are responsible for depriving Bushey of more than
$5,000 in tools illegally forfeited and sold although Bushey was not
charged with a crime.

Former District Judge Jim Edmondson, now an Oklahoma Supreme Court justice,
earlier ordered Luton's office to return Bushey's tools. Many of the tools
already had been sold, and a scheduled hearing before Edmondson was called
off when Luton's office allegedly agreed to pay Bushey for the tools. That
never happened.

Similar racketeering suits filed Wednesday allege illegal forfeiture and
sale of private property owned by either Paul Kripp or Margaret Baude.
Kripp's suit alleges auto repair supplies and machinery and trailers were
seized illegally near Fort Gibson and sold.

Baude's suit contends Luton and Sturm caused her dead son's belongings of a
lifetime to be seized in an illegal search, and the property was later sold
by Luton's office.

Baude's suit alleges the defendants have formed "an illegal enterprise and
engaged in a pattern of racketeering for the purpose of obtaining money and
property for their own use and benefit or for the use and benefit of the
Muskogee County District Attorney's Office."

The suit alleges that sometimes the "scheme is a 'money for justice' scheme
where they trade property seized in exchange for dismissal of criminal
charges or a reduction of sentences."

The suits also allege defendants have sold, lost or converted property
prior to any notice to the interested parties and have permitted criminal
defendants to sign over property to which they possess no right of
ownership in exchange for a reduction or dismissal of charges against them.

"This is nothing other than a smear campaign by Robert Haupt to use the
Muskogee Daily Phoenix as a tool to extort money from the taxpayers of the
state of Oklahoma," Luton said Wednesday upon learning of the allegations
in the suits.

Haupt strongly disagreed, saying his office represents individuals who come
with claims, and "as we have in the past, we spend an enormous amount of
time, energy and money investigating these claims prior to bringing an
action or lawsuit."

Private investigators reporting to Haupt have been in the Muskogee area on
and off for months investigating citizen complaints of alleged illegal
forfeitures by Luton's office.

Haupt said in the recent incidents the victims are nothing but victims,
that no claims of wrongdoing were made against them.

"Their property was taken and converted completely in disregard of their
rights, and if the DA wants to characterize that as a smear campaign, then
he uses a different dictionary than I do," Haupt said.

"Once again, the DA refuses to take responsibility for the blatant
wrongdoing of individuals for whom he is charged with supervising and
directing. You don't have to go to law school to know that wrong is wrong."

Baude's suit alleged: "In furtherance of their corrupt enterprise, the
defendants have seized property for their own use without a court order and
the property has not been recorded in the district's inventory records.

"The defendants have either violated their record-keeping requirements or
have sanitized the inventory and custody records of the property seized in
order to further their racketeering enterprise."

Baude is the sole heir of a son, David Wayne Baude, who died in February
2002. Her suit alleges that in July 2002 a search warrant was issued for
2000 Brockway in Muskogee and the subject of the search was Michael Baude,
brother of David Wayne Baude, and Crystal Parris.

Luton's drug task force, without a warrant or probable cause, allegedly
also searched a garage on the property at 1940 Brockway and seized a
considerable amount of the deceased Baude's property, including
motorcycles, cars and valuable collectable items garnered over many years.

The list of items allegedly illegally seized is so extensive it fills three
pages of legal-sized paper, the suit states. The property was not
associated with criminal activity or the "fruits of a crime," the lawsuit
states. Margaret Baude is her dead son's only heir. The suit states she was
not a target of any investigation.

The suit alleges defendants began to auction the property in November 2002,
without a forfeiture hearing, without giving notice of forfeiture to the
plaintiff, without filing any notice in the probate case and without an
order from a court of competent jurisdiction.

In addition to Luton and Sturm, sued in their individual and official
capacities, other defendants in the suits sued as individuals include Luton
employees Sam Taylor, Richard Huitt, Richard Morris and Jason Bradley;
Muskogee County Undersheriff Juston Hutchinson; Muskogee County Deputy Mike
Morrison; and Stanley Slader, owner of a wrecker service that stores
property seized by Luton's office.

Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson said his office takes no active
part in searches and seizures by the drug task force but secures the scene
and then departs, which is customary.

Federal judge asked to order Luton to follow law

The suit alleges Luton and Sturm, through their oversight and
administration of the office, have developed a custom of operation and
policy in violation of Margaret Baude's constitutional rights and continue
to operate with callous indifference to the constitutional rights of county
citizens.

The federal court is asked to issue an order requiring Luton and Sturm to
develop a policy and practice that recognizes the constitutional rights of
citizens and provides for proper and legal searches and seizures of property.

The suit also asks the court to order Luton and Sturm to develop an
inventory system that accounts for property seized and auctioned and to
develop safeguards for the safe storage of property and the efficient
restoration of property wrongfully seized.

Kripp and Margaret Baude also seek a trial and judgment against defendants
for actual and compensable damages sustained by their alleged illegal acts,
as well as equitable relief in excess of $10,000, attorney fees and court
costs.