While a trooper, House candidate faced inquiry over bachelor party
A state House candidate running on his law enforcement experience came under investigation while a trooper for participating in what one top official called a “sex party.”
Charlie Samples, R-Norman, told The
Oklahoman last week he eventually was exonerated of any wrongdoing.
“I did not violate any law or OHP policy or procedure,” Samples said.
He is one of three Republicans seeking the District 46 seat being vacated this week by Rep. Scott Martin. A special primary election is set for July 11.
Samples, 56, is making his career with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol a focal point of his campaign.
Both his campaign website and a campaign flyer feature photos of Samples in his patrol uniform. Both tell voters, “He has experience making tough — even life-or-death — decisions under pressure.”
Samples acknowledged in a statement to The Oklahoman last week that he initially faced disciplinary action for attending a bachelor party in Tulsa with other off-duty troopers in 1993.
He said he was exonerated in 1998 after he contested the disciplinary action to the Merit Protection Commission.
“I continued to serve my state faithfully, rose
through the ranks and eventually retired ... in 2006 in good standing, with no disciplinary actions over the 20 years I served,” he said.
During the appeals process, he admitted in testimony in 1998 that he went with other off-duty troopers to two Tulsa strip clubs as part of the bachelor party.
He admitted that they then went to a two-story suite at the Residence Inn in Tulsa. He admitted in the suite were two women dressed loosely or in lingerie.
Samples, a graduate of the patrol’s 42nd academy, admitted that he said “the 42nd is going to go first.” He admitted that he then went upstairs “of my own accord” and that there he accepted a sexual favor from one of the women.
He was single at the time.
He testified she did not ask for any money for the oral sex act and he did not offer to pay her. “Just another night out on the town, I guess,” he testified, according to a transcript of the 1998 hearing.
He indicated in that testimony that he did not think the women were prostitutes.
An investigation into the bachelor party was ordered in 1995 by Bob Ricks, then the new commissioner of the Department of Public Safety.
After the investigation was completed in 1996, Ricks took disciplinary action against six troopers. “By witness accounts ... the women at the party were performing sexual acts on several of those in attendance,” Ricks wrote one trooper.
“It was a sex party,” Ricks later said.
Samples was told he was to be suspended for three days without pay for conduct unbecoming an officer and immoral conduct. He appealed, saying in 1998, “I think it’s an injustice against me.”
He further said in 1998 that officials had overstepped their bounds because what he did while off duty had no reflection on the Department of Public Safety.
Records at the Merit Protection Commission show his appeal was dismissed April 2, 1998, after a settlement was reached. Samples told The Oklahoman last week: “Commissioner Bob Ricks voluntarily withdrew the discipline imposed upon me, withdrew all allegations of policy violations, voluntarily had my file expunged, and reimbursed me for the wrongful punishment, thus exonerating me of any wrongdoing. In exchange, I agreed to not pursue any claims against DPS.”
He also said, “Two of my colleagues, also falsely accused, sued over the wrongful punishment and won their case, receiving back pay with interest and reinstatement of rank,” he said.
The other Republicans in the House District 46 race are Darin Chambers and Jimmy Shannon, both of Norman.
The winner of the special primary election will face Jacob Rosecrants, D-Norman, in a special general election Sept. 12.
Samples said his time with the patrol included efforts to find survivors after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and after tornado strikes in 1999 and 2003. He said he served 18 years on the patrol’s tactical team, achieving the rank of assistant commander.