LAWTON – The political fireworks Monday morning at the Comanche County Courthouse were ignited when District 1 Commissioner Ryan John rehired Kenny Curry – the former District 1 first deputy who has a federal lawsuit pending against the county because of his termination by John’s predecessor.
Curry, former Commissioner Gail Turner’s road foreman and first deputy, was fired by then-Commissioner John Donavon O’Brien.
Curry’s lawsuit, alleging a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, is still active. The county and Curry “have already engaged in private mediation and are continuing to attempt to resolve this matter through negotiations,” a Jan. 29 court document shows.
John brought Curry to the Comanche County Clerk’s office last Tuesday to fill out the requisite paperwork for his rehire as a District 1 employee.
The Board of County Commissioners’ agenda Monday included acknowledgment of a “sworn statement” from John in which he intended to restore Curry to the chief deputy’s position in District 1. However, John struck that item from consideration, which means Eddie Clark remains the District 1 chief deputy.
John, of Lawton, was elected Comanche County District 1 Commissioner in a special election Aug. 27, 2024. In defeating five other candidates – including interim Commissioner Trent Logan, a Lawton real estate broker who was appointed to the post temporarily by Governor Stitt – John received a plurality, but not a majority, of the 3,019 votes cast in the race.
John was administered the oath of off ice five months ago, on Sept. 3, 2024. He succeeded former District 1 Commissioner O’Brien.
The 20th Oklahoma Multicounty Grand Jury sought O’Brien’s immediate removal last year as a county commissioner “pending trial on the accusation for removal” that stemmed from five criminal charges filed against him on March 13, 2024.
O’Brien was suspended from office May 7, 2024, pleaded ‘no contest’ to two embezzlement charges reduced from felonies to misdemeanors, and resigned his post on June 4, 2024. Three other misdemeanor charges – two counts of outraging public decency and one count of committing a computer crime – were dismissed.
Special Judge Christine Galbraith gave O’Brien an 18-month suspended county jail sentence, which means if he completes that term without any more trouble his criminal record can be wiped clean. In addition, O’Brien was assessed $2,123 in fines, court costs, fees and assessments. And as a condition of his plea agreement with prosecutors, O’Brien agreed he would not seek an elected office for 18 months.
O’Brien had been in office for only 16 months. He defeated Turner, the District 1 county commissioner for 24 years, in the August 2022 runoff election and received the oath of office on Dec. 30, 2022.
The two misdemeanor counts accusing O’Brien of outraging public decency stemmed from his firing of District 1 employees Mallory Geiger and Kenny Curry.
Geiger worked for District 1 as a full-time secretary from Aug. 29, 2019, until she was “forcibly terminated” by O’Brien on July 25, 2023. Curry had worked for District 1 for 24 years when O’Brien laid him off on July 31, 2023.
O’Brien also fired Ronald Tyler Fletcher, who was hired by Comanche County on May 1, 2015, and worked as a full-time equipment operator and mechanic until he, too, was “forcibly terminated” on July 31, 2023.
Fired employees file lawsuits alleging civil rights violations Geiger filed a federal lawsuit alleging she was fired in retaliation for having reported O’Brien for sexually harassing her. Fletcher filed a federal lawsuit alleging he was fired after he reported O’Brien harassing a female coworker.
Fletcher alleged O’Brien also “threatened” him and his coworker for helping the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation when agents came to District 1 with a warrant allowing them to access the security system “to review footage of Commissioner O’Brien, his wife, and their friend removing documents.”
Curry alleges he was fired in retaliation after informing District Attorney Kyle Cabelka that coworker Tiffany Johle told him she had been sexually harassed by O’Brien “for months.”
The OSBI was brought in to investigate the sexual harassment claims and reports that O’Brien embezzled money from the county.
Fletcher and Geiger settled out of court with the county last month; he received $13,000 and she was paid $10,500, records show. Both payments came from the county’s insurer, the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma, District 3 Commissioner Josh Powers told Southwest Ledger.
Besides seeking to be restored to the job he previously had, Curry reportedly demands a six-figure financial settlement from the county. He also wants “front pay, in amounts to be determined at trial;” punitive and compensatory damages; “consequential” damages; pre- and post-judgment interest “at the highest lawful rate; plus attorneys’ fees and “costs of this action, including expert witness fees, as appropriate.”
If an agreement is not reached, Curry wants a jury trial and it would last an estimated two to three days, a court document shows.