The McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office on Monday responded to recordings obtained by a local Oklahoma reporter in which county officials, including the McCurtain County Sheriff, seemingly advocate the killing of journalists and the lynching of black people.
While the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office did not specifically address what was said in the audio recordings, the law enforcement agency has charged the recordings “have yet to be duly authenticated or validated.” Additionally, the sheriff’s office stated that a preliminary investigation into the matter has shown that the recording released to the media “has, in fact, been altered.”
“The motivation for doing so remains unclear at this point. That matter is actively being investigated,” the press release stated. The sheriff’s office further alleged that the audio recording “is not precisely consistent with what has been put into print.”
“The last 72 hours have been amongst the most difficult and disruptive in recent memory. This is a very complex situation and one we regret having to address,” the statement from the sheriff’s office read.
Though the sheriff’s office has maintained the audio recording was both illegal and modified, some have viewed the sheriff’s office statement as an attempt to deflect blame.
“What’s almost as troubling as the contents of the recording is the complete absence of shame,” Glenn Cook, the executive editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, said of the sheriff’s office’s response to the incident, according to The Associated Press (AP). “Sadly, the willingness of government to protect itself at all costs really never surprises me, but in this particular case the kind of digging in that we’re seeing reflects incredibly poorly on the people of Oklahoma.”
Neither the FBI nor Oklahoma Attorney General Genter Drummond were willing to comment on the specifics of the case. A spokesman for Drummond, however, confirmed the agency had received a copy of the audio recording and was investigating the incident.