Legislator finds tracker on pickup; OSBI investigating
MOORE — State Rep. Mark McBride had been told that he was being followed and he once saw somebody behind his home.
He said he already had alerted authorities about those concerns. And then, at a friend's urging, he decided last month to look underneath his truck.
There, he found a hightech electronic tracking device.
"It was scary," he said Tuesday. "We already knew something was going on. We already had some things that were suspicious that happened. And, then, that."
The OSBI confirmed Tuesday its special agents are investigating "a threat" against McBride.
"Agents are currently running leads," the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation disclosed in a news release.
McBride, R-Moore,
found the device underneath his truck Dec. 4. He filed an invasion of privacy lawsuit over the incident Dec. 22 and began legal steps to identify who was responsible.
We already knew something was going on. We already had some things that were suspicious that happened. And, then, that.”
State Rep. Mark McBride
He said Tuesday he has discovered who put the tracking device on his truck but couldn’t discuss that yet. He did say it had nothing to do with his personal life.
“This is definitely about me as a legislator ... and some positions I’ve taken on certain issues,” he said.
“I’ve had security,” he also said. “It’s a big enough deal that I’ve had law enforcement at different deals that I’ve been to, plainclothes.”
Both Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater and Attorney General Mike Hunter have been made aware of the incident.
“It’s potentially criminal, obviously,” Prater said.
The district attorney also warned that following people can be potentially dangerous if they find out. “You never know what these type things can turn into,” the DA said. “It could potentially become a violent situation.”
McBride said he initially dismissed his friend’s jokingly made suggestion to check underneath his pickup. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, right, that’s spy stuff,’” he said.
Later that evening, he said, he reconsidered and grabbed a flashlight from beside his bed. His wife asked him where he was going.
“I said, ‘I’m going to go look under my truck.’ And I went and looked under my truck. And, sure enough,” he recalled. “It was very startling.”
Also aware of the incident is House leadership.
House Majority Floor Leader Jon Echols said politicians expect news reporters and opponents to dig into their past and activities but to have somebody use a tracker is too much.
“This isn’t about good old-fashioned politics and figuring out who’s doing what. This is intimidation,” Echols said. “It’s not right . ... I’m not saying that our private life is our own because it’s not. But I am saying there’s no room for intimidation out there.
“Whoever put this on there, their goal was to try to figure out everywhere he goes and then, it appears, to blackmail him with it.”
Echols said the incident was more serious than information he learned last year that a private investigator had been approached by a New York PI firm to look into certain state legislators opposed to drug law changes.