IDABEL – A preliminary hearing is scheduled next year for the manager of the McCurtain County Solid Waste Authority and one of his employees who are accused of embezzling more than $200,000 of public funds.
Director James Allen Womack, 53, of Millerton, and his secretary, Shae D. Tubbs, 49, of Idabel, were ordered Nov. 17 to return to McCurtain County District Court here on Feb. 9, 2026.
The charge alleges that over a period of a year and a half – from Jan. 1, 2024, to June 15, 2025 – Womack and Tubbs stole money that was “appropriated by law” but was diverted “by paying themselves and all employees” of the Authority “unearned and unauthorized overtime pay.”
The McCurtain County Commissioners contacted District Attorney Mark Matloff on June 23 about “possible misappropriation of funds” by Womack and Tubbs, an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation special agent related in an affidavit.
Subsequently an OSBI forensic auditor examined payroll data from the Authority and determined that $207,819 of undocumented overtime had been paid to Womack and Tubbs during the 18-month period.
Furthermore, the OSBI auditor said McCurtain County Solid Waste Authority employees were “salaried employees” who received “a set amount per pay period.” The auditor concluded that the employees “appeared to be ‘exempt’ employees.” According to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, “an exempt employee was not entitled to … overtime pay due to their specific job duties and salary level.”
All of these issues “constitute the crime of embezzlement,” the investigator said. The felony charge was filed Sept. 16.
Womack, employed by the solid waste system for 31 years, since Aug. 1, 1994, is free from custody on a $35,000 appearance bond. Tubbs, employed by the system for nine and a half years, since March 2016, was released from custody on a $25,000 appearance bond.