Last week saw the arrests of two Oklahoma mayors on unrelated charges.
Arrested were:
- Frankie Gene Arnold, 51, mayor of Newkirk, Oklahoma, and instructor at Cowley College
- Robert Dean Smith, 49, former mayor of Eufaula, Oklahoma (Smith has resigned since his arrest).
Controlled Substance Charges
Arnold was arrested for illegally obtaining prescription painkillers. He was charged with obtaining a controlled substance by concealment of material fact, a felony drug charge in Oklahoma.
Arnold is alleged to have obtained prescriptions for hydrocodone from two different physicians, neither of whom knew about the other. Arnold is accused of having prescriptions filled over the internet and delivered to Newkirk City Hall.
He allegedly also filled the hydrocodone prescriptions at local pharmacies. Smith stepped down from his position as mayor of Eufaula after his arrest last week. Smith has been involved in a number of legal issues over the last few years.
Alcohol Related Charges
In 2008, he was arrested on complaints of failing to obey a traffic signal, transporting an open container of alcohol, and DUI. He pleaded guilty, which was not part of a plea agreement between his lawyer and prosecutors, and received a one year deferred sentence.
His most recent arrest came after witnesses reported the mayor had left a bar and was driving erratically. Blood alcohol tests determined his BAC to be less than 0.08, the legal limit for DUI, but significant enough to indicate that he had been drinking, which was a violation of his parole.
At the time of his arrest, Smith was out on bail for a misdemeanor DUI charge and a separate felony embezzlement charge. The judge revoked bail for both cases. The embezzlement charge (read more here) was the result of accusations that Smith used a city credit card to buy gasoline. He has been charged with four felony counts of embezzlement by a public official. His embezzlement case is scheduled for trial in April.
