OKC officer indicted in federal case
An Oklahoma City police officer was indicted by an Oklahoma City federal grand jury Wednesday on allegations that he concealed a federal crime and made a false statement to federal investigators who were investigating an interstate theft ring.
Police officer Weston Slater, 25, of Yukon, is accused of assisting an individual who was allegedly involved in a conspiracy to receive and conceal stolen vehicles that had crossed state lines.
The theft ring allegedly was involved in trying to “fence” about $325,000 in stolen property.
Slater has been on administrative leave with the police department since Nov. 10.
The first count of Slater’s two-count indictment alleges that on Feb. 4, 2016, he used an Oklahoma City Police Department computer at the request of one of the conspirators to determine that a particular vehicle had been stolen in Texas.
Slater is accused of making a false statement to a dispatcher about his reason for making the computer search and failing to report the federal crime he discovered to proper law enforcement authorities. The second count of the indictment alleges that Slater intentionally made a false statement to the FBI when he said he had not accessed a police department database on Oct. 1 to search for information on particular law enforcement officers. The indictment alleges he made the computer search for an “improper purpose.”
If convicted, Slater could be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison followed by one year of supervised release on the first count and five years in prison plus three years probation on the second count. He also faces potential fines of up to $250,000 on each count.
Slater’s indictment stems from an investigation by the FBI Major Theft Task Force, Oklahoma City Police Department and Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food & Forestry Investigative Service. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and Garvin County Sheriff’s Office were among task force participants.
Slater, a patrol officer assigned to the Springlake Division, had been an Oklahoma City police officer for a relatively short time. His academy start date was July 1, 2015, a police spokesman said.