WALTERS – Cotton County Commissioner Micah Lee “Mike” Woods, facing trials in district court here this month on a multicounty grand jury’s ouster recommendation and on an embezzlement charge, resigned from office March 27.
In accordance with a p lea agreement, Acting District Attorney Dan Jacobsma dismissed the felony charge “with prejudice,” meaning it cannot be refiled. In exchange, Woods stepped down voluntarily and “shall not seek, or be e ligible to hold, public office” for the next 15 years, District Judge Emmit Tayloe decreed.
Until a successor is elected, the District 1 commissioner ’s job will be f illed by Woods’ foreman, John Anderson.
Abegail Cave, Governor Stitt’s communications director, told Southwest Ledger on March 29 that notice of the r esignation had not yet reached the governor’s desk, so a s pecial election to f ill the vacancy had not yet been scheduled by Stitt.
A jury trial for Woods on a felony charge of embezzlement was scheduled for April 8-10, records filed on the Oklahoma State Courts Network show.
The 20th Oklahoma Multi-County Grand Jury alleged that in June 2022, Woods used county employees during work hours, and in the Co tton County District 1 ba rn at 1124 W. Colorado Ave. in Walters, “to build campaign signs for his personal use” for his reelection campaign in November 2022.
Woods, a Republican, was first elected county commissioner in 2018. H e was reelected four years later when he trounced his Democratic opponent by a 2-to-1 margin in the 2022 general election.
Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Joe Kimmons said in a n affidavit that he interviewed all District 1 employees and several of them “admitted they helped Woods build campaign signs on county time during the workday around June 2022” at the District 1 he adquarters.
Woods was charged with embezzlement on Jan. 9, 2023. “There is suff icient evidence to support a f inding of probable cause” that Woods committed the crime, Associate District Judge Dennis L. Ga y ruled on July 21, 2023.
Via District Attorney Kyle Cabelka, the state also accused Woods of oppression and corruption while in off ice, willful maladministration, and failure to produce and account for all public property in his ha nds. A trial on that issu e was scheduled for April 1.
The grand jurors declared that since Woods is a public officer “not subject to impeachment,” he should be “removed from public office” because he “did knowingly, and willfully, commit certain misconduct in office…” The charges against Woods, 63, of Walters, included:
• On May 1 and Oct. 31, 2023, Woods “made repeated inappropriate and unprofessional comments” to Cotton County Clerk Joseph Schappert. The comments allegedly included threatening Schappert “with losing his job…”
• Between March 1, 2020, and Oct. 31, 2023, Woods subjected Lori Hedges, the Cotton County emergency management director and a reserve deputy sheriff, “to harassment, stalking, and made inappropriate and inaccurate statements about her,” creating a hostile work environment for the woman.
• On Feb. 16, 2021, Woods presented a supposedly “anonymous” letter at the w eekly county commissioners’ meeting that demanded Hedges be fired. The letter alleged that she was not doing her jo b as the emergency management director “and was committing various felony crimes.” Woods “stated that the let ter was ‘his fault because he told the party to write the let ter’,” the grand jurors wrote.
• On March 2, 2021, a nother “anonymous” letter mailed to the Cotton County Commissioners’ office demanded the termination of Hedges. This time Woods “would not state who wrote the let ter.”
Between Jan. 17 and March 3, 2023, Woods drove past Hedges’ home after ho urs “and would follow Hedges to and from” the county courthouse.
• Woods told fellow County Commissioner Milton Honeycutt on Jan. 9, 2023, that H edges “needed to watch her back.”
• On Jan. 10, 2023, Woods, in a conversation with Cotton County Undersheriff Gary Whittington, called Hedges “that ------- bitch.”
• Between Dec. 1, 2022, and Jan. 11, 2023, Woods told Honeycutt that he w as “going to hire someone to assa ult Hedges and Cotton County Sheriff Tim King.”
As a reserve deputy sheriff, Hedges arrested Woods after he was charged with felony embezzlement.
The multicounty grand jury accused Woods of corruption in office and willful maladministration, in using county employees and county materials “to build campaign signs for his personal use” in his 2022 reelection campaign.