Steven Carter OSBI
From left: Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation deputy director Steven Carter was named the agency's interim director during an OSBI Commission meeting Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. Carter takes over for retiring director Aungela Spurlock, right. (Michael McNutt)

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Commission accepted the resignation of retiring director Aungela Spurlock on Thursday and named Steven Carter interim director at a meeting originally scheduled to discuss “performance” concerns.

Commissioners voted 7-0 to approve Carter, who has 30 years in law enforcement and who had served as OSBI’s deputy director for nearly a year. Spurlock’s last day on the job was Thursday, and her terminal leave runs until her official retirement March 1.

“Mr. Carter, thank you for your willingness to steady the ship while we conduct a very thorough search for a replacement for director Spurlock and we will certainly do everything within our power to make that transition,” Chairman Vic Regalado said after commissioners returned from a nearly hourlong executive session. “And any help you need please know that we certainly are there to assist you in any way possible.”

Carter began his law enforcement career with the Oklahoma Department of Corrections in 1994 and worked as a probation and parole officer and internal affairs investigator before joining the OSBI in 2007. He began with the OSBI in Antlers as a general assignment agent investigating major crimes. Carter was promoted to lieutenant and captain while assigned to the Southeast Region, and in September 2022 he was promoted to investigative division director. He was named deputy director almost a year ago, on Feb. 1.

During the past year, rumors of employee unrest, complaints against Spurlock, and other bizarre scenarios unfolded amid other law enforcement dynamics in state government. Thursday’s special meeting was scheduled in November over concerns some commissioners had over recommendations Spurlock made to a legislative committee’s interim study, especially her suggestion that lawmakers diversify the appointment authority for the seven-member OSBI Commission.

“The (…) last couple years have been pretty tumultuous,” said Regalado, Tulsa County’s sheriff, told commissioners. “We for whatever reason have dealt with several things that have made [their] way into the media and as a result kind of muddied up the process in which those things were taken care of. Unfortunately for many of you, you would read articles or hear broadcasts about the last couple years and the alleged issues with morale, with investigations, and all these other things with statements made at the Capitol in regards to the commission board. A lot of that, as you well know, was conducted under executive session, which kind of puts the director behind the eight ball in regards to responding to the accusations of all those things that were made to the media.”

‘You can walk out of here with your head held high’

OSBI Commission Chairman Vic Regalado makes a point during the commission meeting Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Michael McNutt)

Tension at OSBI has simmered for the two years since Spurlock succeeded former director Ricky Adams, a prior Oklahoma Highway Patrol chief who recruited several OHP troopers to join OSBI during his tenure. At their Aug. 21 meeting, OSBI commissioners conducted an employment review of Spurlock during a lengthy executive session. When the commission returned to open session, Regalado said high employee survey participation indicated that “things are going in the right direction.”

But Regalado was absent from the Nov. 20 meeting, and Commissioner Jerry Cason’s request for a special meeting included a reference to “performance” amid ongoing rumors about employee satisfaction and Spurlock’s statements to the legislative interim study.

“The board determined that she was doing a good enough job to continue on as our director, that was in August of 2024,” Regaldo said. “In between that and the call for dismissal, the only things that I could find and that were brought to my attention were rumors of employee unrest and morale. Well, I would tell you that that’s false. “Certainly, there was a portion of the OSBI and its agents that probably don’t like director Spurlock. Anybody who has led an agency knows that that’s normal. If you’re pleasing every single person, I submit you’re not doing your job.”

Regalado also brought up complaints made by a former OSBI special agent.

“Most of that was discussed in executive session, so at the risk of violating that I won’t go into details,” he said. “What I will tell you is that it was also discussed about the board and the decision-making process within that. All to which everybody agreed that it was proper until some dissent came, and then we were forced to send it over to the Attorney General’s Office. The attorney general looked at it, investigated and found no wrongdoing in either the process or in the actions of director Spurlock.”

Finally, Regalado addressed complaints that were made on the handling of a couple of old murder cases.

“If you’ve ever worked a murder — and I’ve worked over 200 of them — you know that cold cases are probably one of the most difficult cases in which to come in, and on these particular cases, many years later and after they’ve already been touched by other agencies,” he said. “So, the idea that there was a complaint against director Spurlock or this agency in the way that it handled it, I can assure you that is absolutely false. I looked into it. I’m very familiar with one of those murders, and at no time did they push it aside, not care about the existing family members. Quite the opposite.”

Spurlock, who worked 23 years for OSBI, became the agency’s first female director in August 2022. Regalado thanked Spurlock for her service and for putting the agency first.

“Stepping down is a difficult thing when you have been at a place for so many years,” he said. “You’ve developed so many relationships, but when you have the interest of the organization before yourself — which is what she did stepping down and retiring — I think that’s commendable and should be recognized, and as you leave today as the first female OSBI director, you can walk out of here with your head held high, because you did a great job.”

After the meeting, Spurlock said politics and personal agendas should never permeate the OSBI.

“I am really discouraged by the noise and distractions that have really overshadowed the work that’s done here,” she said. “I’m very hopeful. We’ve got a great leadership team that this, you know, move by me will kind of move things back in the right direction so we can really focus on the great things that they’re doing across the state.”

Spurlock said she had no regrets about her recommendation to a Senate interim study in September. OSBI commissioners are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. State statute says one must be a chief of police, one must be a sheriff, one must be a district attorney, and the other four are to be lay members. Spurlock didn’t call for changing the makeup of the OSBI Commission, but she did recommend that each member be appointed by a different entity, such as from the Legislature, the Attorney General’s Office, the District Attorneys Council, the Oklahoma Association of the Chiefs of Police, the Oklahoma Sheriffs’ Association and the governor.

“I had no reason to doubt the veracity of the commission that I had or its new members, but when they asked the question, ‘What would make it better,’ to me that was what could make commissions as a whole better, not just for the OSBI,” Spurlock said. “And so, I stand by what I said, and I still think it was a great recommendation.”

  • Michael McNutt

    Michael McNutt became NonDoc's managing editor in January 2023. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, working at The Oklahoman for 30 years, heading up its Enid bureau and serving as night city editor, assistant news editor and State Capitol reporter. An inductee of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, he served as communications director for former Gov. Mary Fallin and then for the Office of Juvenile Affairs. Send tips and story ideas to mcnutt@nondoc.com.

  • Michael McNutt

    Michael McNutt became NonDoc's managing editor in January 2023. He has been a journalist for nearly 40 years, working at The Oklahoman for 30 years, heading up its Enid bureau and serving as night city editor, assistant news editor and State Capitol reporter. An inductee of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, he served as communications director for former Gov. Mary Fallin and then for the Office of Juvenile Affairs. Send tips and story ideas to mcnutt@nondoc.com.