Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office is the chief law enforcement agency that serves a population of over 42,391 people in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. In 2007, the sheriff's department became the first in the state to arrest illegal immigrants under Oklahoma's new law, the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007. In 2009, the county jail was put back into the sheriffs department. The jail was previously managed by the Sequoyah County Criminal Justice Authority. Ron Lockhart's uncle, Sam Lockhart, is a former sheriff in the county. As of 2017, Larry Lane is the current Sheriff of Sequoyah County.
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History
On August 27, 1926, Deputy Sheriff Perry Chuculate was shot and killed while searching for a stolen vehicle. He and another deputy stopped a speeding car. The car was occupied by a gang bank robbers, led by two brothers, who had just committed a robbery. As the deputies approached the car the occupants exited and opened fire with rifles.
The gang was led by the Kimes brothers who were convicted of manslaughter in connection with Deputy Chuculate's murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. One of the brothers, Matthew Kimes, escaped from prison and continued his crime spree.
During the following year the escaped brother continued robbing banks with the Cotton Top Walker Gang, which was responsible for the murders of Borger, Texas, Police Patrolman Coke Buchanan, on March 19, 1927; Hutchinson County, Texas, Sheriff's Deputies D. P. Kenyon and Almer Terry, on April 1, 1927; and Beggs, Oklahoma, Police Chief W. J. McAnnally, on May 18, 1927.
Matthew Kimes was finally arrested in Flagstaff, Arizona, on June 23, 1927.
Mission Statement
It is the mission of the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Department to enforce the laws of the State of Oklahoma and the United States of America, faithfully and impartially; and to provide public safety services for the Citizens, businesses, and other Law Enforcement Agencies within our jurisdiction, emphasizing professionalism, cooperation, competence and integrity, in order to foster a partnership which will preserve and improve the quality of life in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma.