Rinehart Seeks FBI Probe Of Whetsel

By Jerry Bohnen, NewsRadio 1000 KTOK

Two weeks after Oklahoma County sheriff John Whetsel publicly called County Commissioner Brent Rinehart an 'idiot' in a budget fight, Rinehart has gone to the FBI to ask for a formal investigation of the sheriff.
Rinehart declined to comment about the three page letter he mailed Monday to FBI special agent Salvador Hernandez of Oklahoma City.
"It was an accident for the letter to have been released to a sheriff's deputy," said Rinehart when questioned by KTOK. He would not comment further about the letter which accused Sheriff Whetsel of wrongdoing and "mismanagement at the Oklahoma County Detention Center."

"Please accept this letter as a formal request by my office to initiate a federal invevstigation and to take appropriate actions," wrote Rinehart in the letter under county commission letterhead.
He went on to state the sheriff has "politically attacked me in the newspapers"and accused him of being "soft on crime."

Rinehart denied several times in the letter that he is "soft on crime" and said he has received several letters and emails from family members of inmates that detailed severe mistreatment of inmates. "I have reported these incidents to Oklahoma County District Attorney Wes Lane, but because of the local political environment, I do not have confidence that the District Attorney's Office is capable of investigating the Sheriff," wrote Rinehart.

He further alleged the sheriff has used brutality against the inmates of the county jail. "It is my impression of Sheriff Whetsel that he is out of his depth as a jail administrator and intentionally uses excessive force or brutal punishments as a method of control inside the Jail or he is hopelessly incompetent to hold this office that requries appropriate jail administration and as a result the jail is out of control," Rinehart wrote.

"Ridiculous," replied Sheriff Whetsel, who told KTOK he now knows he was right two weeks ago in calling Rinehart an "idiot" as the two argued over his request for funding to buy several new patrol cars.

Oklahoma County Commission Chairman Jim Roth sees the request as another in a long line of "Brent Rinehart actions. He's trying to mask the fact he is not qualified to do the job," Roth said in an interview with KTOK. Photo: County Commissioner Brent Rinehart

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