Oklahoman Reports FBI Affidavit Claims Steve Phipps Made Erwin, Hefner, Mass Partners in Gambling Machine Company

The Oklahoman's Tony Thornton reported in the newspaper's Sunday edition that a Federal Bureau of Investigation affidavit alleges southeastern Oklahoma abstractor Steve Phipps, Gene Stipe's former partner, made three legislators partners in his gambling machine company after they routed almost $3 million in state funds to Phipps' Rural Development Foundation and other businesses.

The legislators named are former State Rep. Randall Erwin of Nashoba, former State Rep. Jerry Hefner of Wagoner and State Rep. Mike Mass of Hartshorne.

The Oklahoman's story comes on the heels of a story in The McCarville Report Online earlier in the week in which three sources claim Mass, Erwin and Phipps met with State Auditor & Inspector Jeff McMahan in his Capitol office early in 2003 to discuss appropriations for the Rural Development Foundation. As auditor, McMahan licenses and regulates abstractors. Phipps and other abstractors have donated almost $150,000 to McMahan's campaigns.

The Oklahoman's story is based on an FBI agent's affidavit filed in U. S. District Court in Muskogee; the document became a public record last Wednesday. The affidavit "unravels a maze of alleged financial transactions, mostly between Phipps' companies, to hide payments and justify obtaining more state money," Thornton reported.

Thornton's multiple stories detail how Phipps allegedly directed use of the state money the Rural Development Foundation received.

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