WatchDog

The Oklahoman's Watchdog team is a dedicated group of journalists here to expose corruption in Oklahoma. If you have any information about possible fraud, waste or abuse click on the Whistle Blower link below or call (405) 475-3322 and let us know.

May 19: Oklahoma City psychiatrist fined $25K for letting students write prescriptions

News | Updated: Thu, May 16, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
A longtime Oklahoma City psychiatrist was fined $25,000 and placed on probation for allowing students to write prescriptions for potentially dangerous controlled substances.

May 12: Oklahoma elected officials among unclaimed property owners

News | Published: Sun, May 12, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb is among Oklahomans the state treasurer's office has been unable to find to reunite with their lost funds. So are many state legislators, said state Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City.

May 5: Stashes of cash are tucked away in Oklahoma state agency accounts

News | Published: Mon, May 6, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
While Oklahoma lawmakers have been wringing the budget to scrape together money for a small income tax cut, millions of dollars in cash has been accumulating in some of the obscure corners of about 2,700 state agency accounts.

April 28: Oklahoma County sheriff accused of releasing inmates to avoid medical bills, suit claims

News | Published: Mon, Apr 29, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
OU Medical Center is suing Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel, accusing the elected lawman of releasing sick inmates just before they are admitted to the hospital in order to avoid paying for their treatment.

April 21: Oklahoma City bingo hall 'sponsored by' group accused in Florida of fraud

News | Published: Mon, Apr 22, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
Players spent almost $7.6 million at Bingo City, a hall in Oklahoma City, in 2010. State law does not require that any money from bingo halls actually go to charitable causes.

Pruitt letter prickles Oklahoma governor's office

News | Updated: Sun, Apr 14, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment

Input from Attorney General Scott Pruitt before 2012 health care decisions called “self serving and political” by Gov. Mary Fallin's chief of staff.
April 10: Blogger, ACLU demand Fallin release missing information
April 8: Anti-Obamacare forces drove Gov. Mary Fallin's health care decisions
April 7: Fallin's staff who figured prominently in discussions
April 7: Fallin won't budge on executive privilege
April 7: Where does Oklahoma stand on Affordable Care?
March 31: Fallin's emails detail health care exchange decisions
March 29: Fallin prepares to release emails
Feb. 10: Fallin’s office yet to produce records
Feb.9: Emails show decision-making process
Jan. 1: Interactive: Health Care 101 graphic novel guide
Dec. 13: Fallin stands behind executive privilege
Dec. 6: Governor’s office under fire for open records
Nov. 23: Fallin’s office won’t release emails

Recent Investigation packages from the coverage team

April 14: Secretive group spends thousands on Oklahoma political ads

News | Published: Mon, Apr 15, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
Oklahoma Works is spending thousands of dollars on political ads calling for the defeat of workers' compensation legislation. The group does not have to disclose its financial backers to the Oklahoma Ethics Commission. Records, though, show one backer is an Oklahoma City attorney who makes his income from representing injured workers at the comp court.
Ongoing Coverage: Workers' Comp

April 7: Physician self-referrals common in Oklahoma workers' compensation system

News | Published: Mon, Apr 8, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
Nearly half of the doctors who serve as independent medical examiners in Oklahoma's workers' compensation system have ownership interests in treatment facilities to which patients are referred.
Physician-owned hospital doctors are major political contributors in Oklahoma
Medical costs are untouched in Oklahoma's proposed workers' comp changes
Ongoing Coverage: Workers' Comp

March 31: Oklahoma DHS disciplines worker after HIV warning

News | Published: Sat, Mar 30, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
An Oklahoma DHS child welfare specialist was suspended for three days without pay after she warned foster parents a child under their care might be HIV-positive.
Ongoing coverage: DHS -- through the years

March 17: Oklahoma horse slaughter bill author denies financial motivation

News | Published: Mon, Mar 18, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
Skye McNiel, R-Bristow, said she proposed House Bill 1999 to help the horse livestock economy and open up an outlet for people to dispose of their horses. Critics, however, call it a conflict of interest meant to boost finances at her grandparent's horse auction, the largest in the state.
Oklahoma plant is one of six to list horses as animals to be slaughtered
Outside groups line up on both sides of horse slaughter debate

March 10: Prosecutors have evidence Oklahoma parole board was cautioned in 2011

News | Published: Mon, Mar 11, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
An Oklahoma assistant attorney general provided training in 2011 to the Pardon and Parole Board about the Open Meeting Act. Ongoing coverage -- Paroled in Secret?


Feb. 24: Injured workers in Oklahoma seek compensation in adversarial system

News | Published: Sun, Feb 24, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
Hundreds of Oklahomans spent most of a weekday morning last week in the crowded corridors of the Denver Davison Building in OKC, where the state's injured workers go for financial relief.

Workers' comp proposal could save Oklahoma businesses big bucks
By the numbers At a glance



Feb. 3: Oklahoma Legislature flooded with workers' compensation bills

News | Published: Sun, Feb 3, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
Oklahoma business owners' cries for workers' compensation reform are reverberating through the Oklahoma Legislature, with more than 30 bills filed that could radically change the way injured workers are treated.
How does Oklahoma's workers' comp system work? At a glance

Jan. 27: Refinery worker deaths concern Wynnewood residents

News | Published: Mon, Jan 28, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
A Sept. 28 explosion that killed two has some questioning safety of facility that serves as town's lifeblood. Now, some in this town of about 2,500 residents are voicing concerns about the refinery's new owner, a lax culture of safety, and whether some workers may be reluctant to complain for fear of losing their good-paying jobs or seeing the refinery that serves as the town's lifeblood close.
Wynnewood's history with oil U.S. refinery deaths Oklahoma's operating petroleum refineries

Jan. 20: Oklahoma spaceport's blighted buildings rile town officials in Burns Flat

News | Published: Mon, Jan 21, 2013 | Comment on this article Leave a comment
Thirteen years after Oklahoma lawmakers announced a grand vision for a futuristic spaceport here, town officials complain the state has little to show for its efforts beyond abandoned hangars and crumbling warehouses.



Ongoing Investigations - Archived Coverage Pages

Investigative articles

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What's Inside

The Oklahoman wins 3 First Amendment Awards

Competing against other large-market print publications in Texas and Oklahoma, The Oklahoman won three of 10 categories in a competition hosted by the Fort Worth Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.




The NewsOK Watchdog Team

Robby Trammell


News Director, Investigative Team

Robby Trammell is news director for The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com. During his 41-year career, he has received numerous reporting awards and civic honors. With The Oklahoman’s investigative team, he won a first-place spot news reporting award for coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing and exposed wrongdoing in the 1990 campaign of an Oklahoma governor. Their scoop — “Governor Secretly Indicted” — was heralded as the biggest political story in the paper’s history. The governor pleaded guilty. Trammell’s investigation of bid-rigging by Seminole County commissioners in the 1970s was a forerunner to a federal inquiry statewide that turned out to be one of the largest cases of public corruption in American history. Trammell has a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma. He teaches Media Ethics at the University of Central Oklahoma. He serves as a director on the board of the Oklahoma Press Association. He is an ordained deacon in The Episcopal Church.

Nolan Clay


Sr. Reporter

Nolan Clay was born in Oklahoma and has worked as a reporter for The Oklahoman since 1985. He covered the Oklahoma City bombing trials and witnessed bomber Tim McVeigh's execution. His investigative reports have brought down public officials, exposed shysters and resulted in reforms in such areas as day care oversight and workers' compensation court. He is a proud father and longtime fan of University of Oklahoma football. His wedding in 2001 was on the 50-yard line of OU's football field.

Randy Ellis


Investigative Reporter

For the past 30 years, staff writer Randy Ellis has exposed public corruption and government mismanagement in news articles. Ellis has investigated problems in Oklahoma's higher education institutions and wrote stories that ultimately led to two college presidents being sentenced to prison and a former chancellor being forced to resign. He has written about abuses of Oklahoma's workers' compensation system, corruption in the state's municipal bond industry, bid-rigging by county officials, self-dealing by state housing officials, misconduct involving state legislators and a variety of other topics. Ellis has won more than 80 state, regional and national awards for journalistic excellence. Prior to joining The Oklahoman in 1982, Ellis worked at Arkansas newspapers. He is a 1977 graduate of Kansas State University.

Andrew Knittle


Reporter

Andrew Knittle has covered state water issues, tribal concerns and major criminal proceedings during his career as an Oklahoma journalist. He has won reporting awards from the state's Associated Press bureau and prides himself on finding a real voice within the stories he covers. He joined The Oklahoman's staff in September 2011 after working for the Shawnee News-Star and The Norman Transcript for a combined three years.

Knittle, a Norman resident, is a 2008 graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma, where he studied journalism. He is married to Lauren O'Shea and has two sons, Faroh and Julius

Zeke Campfield


Reporter

Zeke Campfield covers state politics and government. He has been reporting for The Oklahoman and NewsOK since February, 2012. He is a graduate of the University of Montana, and worked previously as a reporter for the Lawton Constitution.

Phillip O'Connor


Investigative Reporter
O'Connor joined the Oklahoman staff in June, 2012 after working at The Kansas City Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch for a combined 28 years. O'Connor, an Oklahoma City resident, is a graduate of Kansas State University. He has written frequently about the military and has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Haiti, Israel and several other countries.