Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office joins investigation into Walters nude images allegations
The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office (OCSO) tells News 4 that state office officials brought them in because they wanted to figure out not only if what allegedly happened in Walters' office was unethical, but also if it amounted to a crime.
RELATED: Investigation inquiry underway after bombshell reports say board members saw naked women on Ryan Walters' office TV during meeting
But the specifics of what that investigation will include are pretty murky right now.
'We're looking into it,' OCSO spokesperson Aaron Brilbeck told News 4 Monday.
OCSO says the State's Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES) reached out Monday, asking them to investigate if anything criminal happened.
'We just don't know whether there was any criminal activity,' Brilbeck said. 'And that's the role of the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office and our investigators right now is to look into that.'
News 4 reported Friday that state school board members Ryan Deatherage and Becky Carson claimed they saw images of clearly fully-nude women playing on a TV behind Walters as a family spoke to board members during the closed session portion of last Thursday's State School Board meeting.
RELATED: Third board member speaks out after allegations of naked women on TV in Supt. Walters' office
They told The Oklahoman and NonDoc that they confronted Walters, he looked at the TV, grabbed the remote, and turned it off without acknowledging what happened.
News 4 reported that state employment policies make clear it's a fireable offense to look at explicit content on state-issued devices.
What's not clear is how those images—allegedly—ended up on Walters' TV.
State lawmakers tasked OMES with getting to the bottom of it.
House Speaker Kyle Hilbert asked Walters to turn over all his electronic devices to investigators.
With OMES only handing the investigation to the OCSO a couple of hours before News 4 spoke with OCSO Monday, officials weren't sure who currently had possession of Walters' devices.
'I don't know the answer to that,' Brilbeck said.
It's not clear why OMES asked the Sheriff's Office to investigate, when the Oklahoma Highway Patrol is the primary law enforcement agency in charge of the State Capitol complex.
News 4's calls and emails to OMES went unanswered Monday.
News 4 has confirmed OMES officials met with Sheriff Tommie Johnson personally on Monday.
'Sheriff Johnson sat down and spoke with OMES, and they asked about their concerns and asked if we wouldn't mind looking into it,' Brilbeck said.
So far, Walters has not denied explicit pictures appeared on his TV—only suggesting if something did happen, it wasn't his fault.
His office said in a statement Friday, in part:'Any number of people have access to these offices.'
RELATED: Supt. Walters unapologetic in latest statement regarding 'nude women' allegations
And—although the board members never claimed to know how the alleged images ended up on Walters' TV—in another statement Sunday, Walters claimed:
'Any suggestion that a device of mine was used to stream inappropriate content on the television set is categorically false. I have no knowledge of what was on the TV screen during the alleged incident, and there is absolutely no truth to any implication of wrongdoing.'
'We're aware of what has been told to the media,' Brilbeck said. 'But obviously we have to do our own due diligence to speak with those witnesses that are involved to determine whether there was anything criminal.'
News 4 asked OMES officials if they have taken possession of Walters' devices and if they'll still be running their own non-criminal investigation while the Sheriff's Office runs their criminal one.
OMES did not respond.
As for a timeline on how long OCSO's investigation might take, Brilbeck said it's simply too early to know right now.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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