Suspended sentence for former police chief
A former Luther police chief left court Wednesday a convicted felon.
Tony Shaun Walker pleaded guilty in June to embezzling a $310 payment from a 2019 traffic stop.
On Wednesday, Oklahoma County District Judge Susan Stallings chose his punishment — a two-year suspended sentence and a $100 fine.
Walker, 36, had asked for a deferred sentence — a type of probation that would have left him without a conviction on his record.
District Attorney David Prater asked for the felony conviction.
“I think it’s very appropriate to hold public officials, particularly police officers, to a higher standard than the general public,” he told the judge.
The district attorney argued that what Walker did contributes to the erosion in public confidence in police officers in society today.
“Even that matters,” Prater said of the embezzlement. “It’s not just about killing people. It’s not just about abusing people.”
Walker resigned as police chief in Luther in September 2019 after four months in the position. He became a police officer in McLoud the same month.
He now drives a truck delivering recreational vehicles across the country, his defense attorney, Irven Box, said. He lives in Wellston.
After he left Luther, police found a citation for an expired tag and copies of a July 2, 2019, receipt in the back of a drawer in his desk. Police then discovered any record of the citation had been removed from the town’s system, “which was not normal and against policy,” according to an affidavit.
Walker was charged in January 2020 with a felony, embezzlement by a public officer.
He apologized Wednesday, saying he let people down.
In a statement for a report ordered by the judge, he said he had accepted the payment, placed it in his office and left the building.
“Came back the next day, saw the money and put it in my pocket, forgetting what it was for,” he said. “When I realized it was money from that citation, I just tried to hide it.”
As a convicted felon, Walker can’t vote and can no longer possess a firearm.