Calvin police chief arrested, faces meth distribution charges
A southeastern Oklahoma police chief was arrested after officials found methamphetamine in his home following a nearly monthlong investigation, authorities said Friday.
Calvin Police Chief Joe Chitwood, 42, was taken into custody Thursday afternoon after agents of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration found small amounts of meth in Chitwood’s Wetumka home, the bureau said in a release. Chitwood was booked into the Hughes County jail.
Mark Woodward, bureau spokesperson, said Chitwood did not appear to be distributing large amounts of the drug.
“He might be selling small amounts to one other individual, from time to time, that’s what we can confirm,” Woodward said. “We’re not talking about pounds and kilos, it would be in the gram quantities, that you might see somebody try to purchase to feed their addiction.”
The investigation began in mid-April when the state narcotics bureau received information that Chitwood was using and selling meth in Hughes County, according to the release.
“Meth is the leading killer among drug-related deaths in Oklahoma,” bureau Director Donnie Anderson said in the release. “And for a peace officer to be responsible for putting more meth on the streets is a disgrace to the proud men and women in law enforcement who put their lives on the line every day to protect our citizens from the deadly consequences of substance abuse.”
Chitwood has been the police chief in Calvin — a southeast Oklahoma town of about 275 people — since August of 2019, according to Facebook posts. Be
fore that, he served as police chief in Wetumka, which also is in Hughes County, 19 miles north of Calvin.
With a background in both law enforcement and working for private military security firms during the Iraq War, Chitwood last year discussed his role as a police K-9 trainer and handler in an interview with online news outlet NonDoc.
Chitwood worked with dogs who were trained to detect narcotic drugs, including methamphetamine, but acknowledged in the interview there are some officers who manipulate the dogs to indicate improperly during drug searches.
“If you’ve got unethical officers out there doing things like that, that hurts all of us,” Chitwood told NonDoc. “It makes us look bad, just like any other bad officer who does something like that.”