Cleveland County officials sue jail’s phone providers

Panel says county hasn’t received revenue from jail calls

NORMAN — The Cleveland County commissioners have sued the jail’s inmate telephone systems provider, claiming the company has failed to pay the county its share of revenue earned on inmate calls.

“The county has and will continue to suffer a loss for the unreceived revenue stream from the commission payments that disrupts and hinders the operations of Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office,” according to the lawsuit.

Under the contract, Lattice Inc. had agreed to pay the sheriff’s office a 67 percent commission of all gross revenues from paid telephone services at the jail, the lawsuit states. The company, though, hasn’t compensated the county for months, according to the lawsuit, which was filed this week in Cleveland County District Court.

A request for comment made Friday to a Lattice Inc. official wasn’t immediately returned.

The commissioners claim Lattice embezzled funds belonging to the county for the company’s own corporate expenses.

“Lattice intentionally has not paid the commissions for the revenue collected since February 2017,” according to the lawsuit. “Lattice has failed and refused to pay the county as required by the contract . ... The county and its taxpayers have been harmed as a result of Lattice’s unauthorized conversion of their monies.”

The lawsuit alleges damages exceeding $10,000.

The commissioners also noted concerns of Lattice’s ability to “maintain uninterrupted and secure inmate telephone services.” They are asking a judge to prevent Lattice from reducing or terminating its services at the sheriff’s office, according to the lawsuit.

The county has renewed the contract with Lattice annually since October 2013, the lawsuit states.

“Lattice failed to disclose that it was involved in ongoing litigation and was in a significantly impaired financial condition during the contract renewals at fiscal year ends in mid-2015, 2016 and 2017,” the lawsuit alleges.

Lattice got behind on payments to the sheriff’s office from July 2015 to December 2015, while Joe Lester still was sheriff, according to the lawsuit.

Lester abruptly retired Oct. 2, less than a month after a state audit found widespread financial mismanagement of his office. Lester had filed a lawsuit accusing county officials of failing to adequately fund the jail for years. He dropped that lawsuit with his retirement.

The current lawsuit also noted an agreement where the sheriff’s office would purchase prepaid phone cards from Lattice at a discount and then sell them to inmates at full value, which the county would keep.

Lattice collects the payments for other services, including collect calls and accounts funded by inmates’ relatives. Under the contract, the company then must remit the 67 percent commission from these funds to the sheriff’s office, according to the lawsuit.