Questions Arise in Guthrie About...
The house is a traditional red-brick structure sitting on a large lot in an upscale housing addition in Guthrie, Oklahoma, the town where Oklahoma politics began more than 130 years ago.
Nothing really differentiates the home at 1212 N. Mockingbird Lane in Guthrie, from any of the dozens of others in the housing addition, all with their neatly manicured lawns and mature shade trees and landscaping...
Except for a handful of things:
There are as many at least 12 adults legally registered to vote in the Logan County home, all of whom claim the home as their place of residence. That number has been as 14 in the past.
The home is also the address of at least two business entities and multiple churches. Ekk Media and Consulting LLC and Grider Electric LLC. The Ekklesia of Oklahoma, Father’s Heart Ministries and IGAM (International Gathering of Apostolic Ministers).
Local and state election officials, as well as the Logan County District Attorney’s office, have reviewed the situation to determine if voter fraud or any other election offenses have been committed by the home’s renters.
The home and its residents have been the targets of considerable community conversation, including on the Internet from groups like The Sooner Tea Party, which has heavily criticized the group and labeled it a cult.
The chairman of the Oklahoma Republican Party’s District 3 organization is a resident of the home. The chairman of the Logan County Republican Party lives there. One of the home’s multiple adult residents, Republican Karmin Grider, is running for the House District 31 currently held by fellow Republican Garry Mize.
Grider’s husband, Joseph Paul, has been arrested for possession of Heroin, driving while suspended, attempting to allude a police officer and several other charges.
The apparent leader of the group of residents, Daniel Luis Navejas has had a string of legal and monetary woes, including writing bad checks and repossession of a vehicle.
At least three current residents have been spotlighted before moving to Guthrie by the website Hate Tracker. Hate tracker is a website the enables citizens to report hate crimes they have witnessed or have experienced themselves. The article appeared on Oct. 26, 2018. Hatetracker.org article October 26, 2018, before they moved to Guthrie, before they were involved the OKGOP. Daniel, Kyle and Issac Rodriguez.
The nearly 5,000 square foot residence is home to an evangelical, anti-abortion church group that goes by the name The Ekklesia of Oklahoma. They also are known as The Gathering by some. Ekklesia (also spelled Ecclesia) members say that name is what they call their church meetings, which have also occurred in a building in downtown Guthrie. Accepted definitions of that name does literally mean “the church.”
The Oklahoma Republican Party is acutely aware of the house’s occupants and their political positions and has tried to distance itself from the group because of their beliefs. Former Logan County Republican Party Chairman, Jeff Taylor says “These people need to be driven from the Republican Party.”
Conservative Oklahoma Sooner Tea Party leader Al Gerhart has labeled the group a cult and says members of the group have accosted GOP legislators at their homes, sent out mailers against Republicans and has even had billboards erected against party candidates, including incumbents. He also questions whether the group may have violated state campaign finance and spending laws or state ethics laws by taking such actions.
The Mockingbird Lane residents have been on the radar of county and state election officials and the Logan County District Attorney’s office since at least February 2019.
In 2019, the home and its occupants caught the eye of Logan County Election Board officials who reported to the state election board what they thought was an unusually high number of registered voters living at the house. At the time, as many as 14 adults and 10 children were rumored to be living at the residence.
“That was very unusual,” said Sheleen Winscott, the head of the Logan County Election Board.
Winscott said she reported the home and it’s registered voters to her superiors at the state election board because so many people were voting at the address. State election officials, she said, instructed her to immediately contact the Logan County District Attorney’s office to facilitate a possible investigation into what appeared to potentially be voter fraud at the home.
Logan County District Attorney, Laura Thomas, said she was not given any evidence that a crime, such as voter fraud, was being committed and she decided not to do a full investigation of the situation because of that.
“I couldn’t find a crime,” she told The Ledger. “No crime was presented. I couldn’t see anything suspicious.”
In defense of her decision, Thomas told The Ledger “the only people this is suspect to is people who hate (Dan) Ladd. There is an element (of people in Guthrie) who hate Ladd. They hate his guts and this really has nothing to do with voter fraud or where people are registered (to vote).”
Ladd used to live at the Mockingbird Lane house, where his daughter and son-in-law are listed as registered voters. Ladd is linked to both The Gathering and the Ekklesia. He now lives in California.
‘Why are we assuming they moved into the house to do something nefarious? There’s nothing wrong (with their voter registration forms),” Thomas said. “Besides, DA’s don’t investigate.”
Thomas said it is not unusual to find multi-generations of minorities like “Blacks and Mexicans” living together because they have strong familial bonds and financial considerations also sometimes play a part in such families.
“It’s unusual for white people (to live in large family groups),” she explained, “but I rent (a house) to a family of Asians. It’s not unusual for minorities.”
She acknowledged that investigating the case was as simple as determining who actually lived at the house, who was registered to vote there, who voted had voted from there, when they voted, and whether or not those voters actually lived in the Mockingbird Lane home.
“It was just decided that we didn’t receive evidence beyond a reasonable doubt,” she reiterated.
The Ledger attempted to contact numerous members of the residents of the home, but either could not find telephone numbers, numbers were disconnected, or phone messages left for the home’s occupants went unanswered or returned.
The family, or families, living at the house are acutely aware that their living arrangements have drawn the eyes of local election and law enforcement and the general public.
Only a few weeks ago, on March 27, Karmin Grider broached the subject of her living arrangement in a Facebook post that was prompted by what she described as “personal attacks towards my friends, our ministry, my husband, myself, and the Logan County GOP.”
Grider, singled out an instance where she claims she was verbally attacked by another Logan County woman.
In her Facebook post, Grider wrote:
“I find it ironic that one woman who believes herself to be strong must hide behind her sex to defend herself against differing opinions, tear me down – a fellow woman (whom she has never had a conversation with), attack a ministry by spreading false claims, threaten to ‘expose’ my friends’ ‘private’ lives (quotation because there is nothing to hide), and demean an organization (Logan County GOP) that has more than tripled in size since the previous administration.”
Grider said the attacks against her were “not the tactics of a strong woman. These are cowardly tactics, employed by a woman towards another woman seeking a leadership position.”
Those who are listed by election board officials as living at the residence include:
• Hannah Joy Akard. Her Facebook profile uses the name Ladd
• Russell Wayne Akard
• Heather Elon Brown. Brown is Beth Navejas’ twin sister.
• Ian Jacob Daniel Brown
• Kyle David Brown (Chairman of the Logan County Republican Party)
• Lea Kathleen Free
• Joseph Paul Grider (Karmin Grider’s husband)
• Beth Andrea Navejas
• DanielLuisNavejas(Congressional District 3 Republican Chairman – and married to Beth)
• Dina Rodriguez
• Grace Claire Rodriguez
• Isaac David Rodriguez (who was named in a Hate Tracker website post along with Brown and Nevjas.
• Karmin Noel Smith (now Grider who is running against GOP incumbent Garry Mize)
In his Internet post, Gerhart said Navejas “has banded with a series of diverse groups like the John Birch Society, the Abolitionists, and other far-right “Dominionism” groups in an attempt to take over the GOP and impose a religious litmus test upon candidates for public office in Oklahoma.”
Gerhart wrote Navejas has had a number of financial problems, had his wages garnished at one point “over an unpaid debt” and “was sued for hiding a pickup truck that he had stopped making payments on.”
In his commentary, Gerhart questioned whether the Guthrie house was “a cult style home similar to the Branch Davidian compound in Waco (Texas) or if some of the registered voters are just conducting voter fraud by using the address to pack the county GOP roster and maintain control of the county GOP.”
In an almost 46-minute Youtube.com video posted on May 3 of this year, Navejas and Brown claim there are under attack by the state GOP and “crooked and corrupt politicians” such as Oklahoma Republican Senate Majority Leader Greg Treat of Oklahoma City, and Oklahoma GOP Assistant Republican Majority Floor Leader Kim David of Porter.
In the video, Navejas said state Republican leaders are trying to “strike the Shepard” so the “sheep will scatter.” The comment is a reference to Bible passages in Mark, Matthew and Zachariah.
Navejas called Oklahoma lawmakers Treat and David, along with other legislators, “jokes” for the positions and votes on abortion. He described them as “no different” from Democrats.
He claimed, “crooks and corrupt politicians” are trying to stop his ministry by spreading word about possible investigations into his activities.
The religious leader also claimed the COVID-19 pandemic is “joking crap.” Navejas also one of the primary spokesmen for the lawsuit filed against the City of Guthrie over COVID-19 restrictions.
Grider, who appears on the video with Navejas, said the ministry openly supports anti-abortion candidates but not with contributions. He claimed the group was going to be attacked from people or organizations for having done something illegal or improper.
However, sources have told The Ledger that the group has paid for campaign mailers and billboards for and against some candidates. If true, such spending could be in violation of the state’s campaign ethics laws.
Grider said opponents were trying to strip away the rights of Christians to speak on behalf of anyone who opposes abortion.
The Ledger initially began investigating Navejas, Grider and other home residents and the ministry over concerns relayed by sources that voter fraud was ongoing on at the home where the group lives.
“They’re trying to strip the right away from a church from any religious voice, from any individual that’s in a religious position to speak on behalf of Christian values and principles about elections,” Grider said on the video.
Navejas said the look into voting fraud possibilities and the ministry is an “infringement on 1st Amendment rights.”
He was referring to the U.S. Constitution’s 1st Amendment which guarantees and protects every American’s right to freedom of religion, speech and the press.
“As a pastor in the state of Oklahoma...,” Navejas said on the video, “...I’m not going to be silent on the issue of abortion as long as it’s concerning this Coronvirus and everything that’s going on, as long as the abortion clinics are open in Oklahoma, every church in Oklahoma should be opened up, worshiping together, unashamedly and I’m afraid – and stop playing in to the pandemic, joking crap that’s going on – the second thing: as long as abortion is legal in Oklahoma, I’m going to preach about it.
“I’m going to talk about it. I’m going to call other pastors to call their magistrates to do something about it. As long as the LGBT community is pushing their agenda on our children and trying to brainwash our children in education, that you may not be a boy, you may not be a girl --- you don’t know what you are – as long as the mainstream media is pumping in sexual immorality and trauma into our children and showing them that it’s OK to blow each other up and kill each other with violence every single day; as long as we’re robbing the hard-working Oklahomans that are working hard for their money, and stealing their money through taxation so they can spend it on whatever and promise all these things – as long as we keep having crooked and corrupt politicians and cowards in the state of Oklahoma, I’m going to preach this and if it puts me in jail, if that means I end up in jail for doing it, then guys, I’m going to have one heckuva prison ministry and I’m going to be just as loud there as I am anywhere else.”