Grand jury recommends Cotton County commissioner’s removal from office

WALTERS — An Oklahoma Attorney General’s grand jury recommended an embattled Cotton County commissioner step down or be removed from office.

After testimony and evidence was presented Wednesday and Thursday, the grand jury in Oklahoma City returned its recommendation Cotton County District 1 Commissioner Micah “Mike” Woods step down for abuse of office allegations,District 5 District Attorney Kyle Cabelka said.

Cabelka said it was the first grand jury of this kind he or the attorney general’s office have conducted.

“They kind of let me take the reins with it,” he said.

According to the accusation for removal paperwork, Woods is accused of misconduct in office and, due to being a public official not subject to impeachment, he should be removed from office.

The determination by the grand jury requests the District Court order the immediate suspension of Woods as county commissioner.

According to the grand jury filing, Wood is accused of oppression in office including repeated inappropriate and unprofessional comments made to Joseph Schappert, the Cotton County Clerk, including threats of losing his job.

Woods is also accused in the filing of “harassment, stalking and made inappropriate and inaccurate statements” about Emergency Management Director and Reserve Deputy Sheriff Lori Hedges to create a hostile work environment, the allegations stated. This includes Woods’ presentation of an “anonymous” letter at a commissioner’s meeting demanding Hedges’ termination. He later stated the letter was “his fault because he told the party to write the letter” but refused to identify its author.

There is another allegation from the grand jury filing that Woods told County Commissioner Milton Honeycutt that he was going to hire someone to assault Sheriff Tim King and Hedges, as well as calling Hedges derogatory names to Undersheriff Gary Whittington. The accusation affidavit also identifies Woods as having driven by Hedges’ home after hours as well as following her from the county courthouse.

Woods is also accused by the grand jury filing of corruption in office and willful maladministration by using county employees and materials to building campaign signs for his personal use for reelection on Nov. 8, 2022.

With the grand jury’s recommendation, Cabelka said he is meeting with Cotton County Associate District Judge Michael C. Flanagan to begin the process. He said Woods would then be served before Monday’s next Cotton County Commissioners meeting. He will then file the formal paperwork on Monday due to the courts closure on Friday due to Veterans Day observance.

When Woods is served, he will automatically be suspended and will have a hearing scheduled within five days to answer to the charges, Cabelka said. At the hearing, if Woods fails to show or answers to the charges, he will be automatically removed from office.

If Woods denies the charges, he will remain suspended until the date of a civil jury trial on the first day of the next trial docket, what the state statute stipulates, which is April 2024.

Cabelka noted that is the same docket a criminal complaint against Woods is scheduled to go to trial.

Woods, 62, of Walters, is also facing a felony count of embezzlement, which followed 2022 investigation by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.

Woods was accused of using Cotton County District 1 employees to build campaign signs for him, working on county time without the approval of other Cotton County commissioners, according to the warrant affidavit.

This case remains set for trial even if Woods steps down from office.

He was bound over for trial following a July 21 preliminary hearing. He remains free on $10,000 in that case.