Pawnee County Sheriff Darrin Varnell is defending allegations of misconduct inside the Pawnee County Jail as Shawn Price challenges him in the Tuesday, Aug. 27, Republican runoff election.
Varnell’s office is under social media fire amid the 2024 Pawnee County sheriff runoff after a video posted on Facebook showed security footage of detainees chasing officers with a shock shield, fighting back against sheriff deputies and police officers, jumping over the second-floor railing and being cleaned with a power washer.
Shared Aug. 19, the explicit video dropped as Price, a former deputy prison warden at Dick Conner Correctional Center, and Varnell continue to post on their campaign Facebook accounts about false claims their opponent has made and prior incidents from within the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Office.
Varnell was elected Pawnee County sheriff in the 2020, beating incumbent Mike Waters who served as sheriff for 10 years. Varnell won the general election as a Republican with 58.99 percent of the votes against Waters, a Democrat who received 41.01 percent of the votes.
Last week, Waters shared the controversial jail video on his personal Facebook account.
“OMG!!!” he wrote. “I have kept my mouth shut but after seeing this I have to say…. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for a change.”
Only two days before the video was posted, Price and Varnell attended an Aug. 17 candidate meet and greet at the Westport Baptist Church in Cleveland. The candidates had five minutes for opening statements before questions were directed from the audience.
Although there were multiple instances where attendees began arguing with each other and the candidates, audience questions covered subjects such as taxation for marijuana grows, sheriff department staffing plans, candidate priorities, department relationships with education institutions, traffic stops and patrols.
Neither Varnell, 47, nor Price, 53, responded to multiple interview requests for this article.
Varnell and Price were the top two vote getters in a three-way race in the June 18 Republican primary. Varnell captured 36.64 percent of the votes, and Price won 34.3 percent. With no Democrat, Libertarian or independent filing for the seat, the winner of Tuesday’s runoff will win the sheriff’s post.
Polls will be open in Pawnee County from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Varnell responds to jail video with his own Facebook post
On Aug. 22, Varnell posted on his campaign Facebook account to address the video being shared about incidents that happened at the Pawnee County Jail over the last four years.
The jail video was released on a sock puppet Facebook account under the name Courtney Ready, but Varnell has alleged it was made and narrated by a former Pawnee County sheriff employee.
“With this video,” the narrator states, “I would like to shed some light on why so many sheriff’s office employees have left, why investigations are going uncompleted, and explain why many in law enforcement refuse to be associated with the current administration.”
The first clip in the video shows a detainee chasing a jailer around the first and second floors of the jail with a shock shield — a shield lined with an electrical current used to defend against an attacker.
Varnell provided an explanation for three of the four clips that were featured in the jail video and said that all of the incidents were “investigated and corrective actions taken, up to and including termination.”
In his rebuttal, Varnell also addresses the fourth clip cited in the video, which contained footage of a detainee being power washed inside a jail cell after the detainee had defecated on himself.
“That incident occurred the first six months of my administration,” Varnell said. “The employee was a hold-over employee from the Waters administration. That incident was investigated by the district attorney, and the employee was terminated.”
Varnell said he has met with the detainee who was subjected to the power washing to express his concerns and regrets. He claimed the former detainee is now a supporter of his.
The last clip Varnell addressed contained footage of a detainee climbing over the railing at the top of one of the jail pods before falling onto the ground floor. In his explanation, Varnell said the video did not show the quick response times of the jailers and emergency medical staff.
“This incident occurred over a year ago before new mental health services were put into place,” Varnell said. “It’s also noteworthy that on multiple occasions, my staff attempted to get him moved to a mental health facility, but those requests were denied.”
According to Varnell, the person was taken to the hospital and was released the same day with minor injuries.
“When a former employee, who now works for an agency whose only goal at the moment is to see me lose this election, you have to question what his true intentions really are,” Varnell said to conclude his response video.
‘His campaign operates on half-truths’
Sponsored by the Keystone Peninsula Residents Association, the Aug. 17 meet and great included an open forum for residents of the Westport area near Keystone Lake to discuss county issues and questions.
Price, who has worked in law enforcement and corrections for 35 years as a dispatcher, jailer, deputy sheriff, and as a deputy warden for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, began the forum with an opening statement describing what he thinks the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Office has done poorly under Varnell’s administration.
Price made multiple claims about a supposed $1.2 million surplus that was dwindled down to $77,000 in Varnell’s first seven months as sheriff, a decrease in detainee bookings at the newly built county jail, and the sheriff’s office not following through with investigations.
“Throughout this, I’m sure it’s going to be said that I’m saying lies and I’m saying half-truths,” Price said. “I’m not. I’ve actually done my background. I’ve went and checked this out.”
Varnell, who has been the Pawnee County sheriff for almost four years, responded by explaining his professional background as well as the upgrades he has made to the department since taking over in 2020.
According to the Pawnee County Sheriff’s Office website, Varnell has increased the number of patrol deputies, upgraded the patrol fleet, secured new equipment, obtained new vehicles and updated the technology in the jail and for dispatchers.
“We have made tremendous drive from where the sheriff’s office was when I started here as a deputy in 2011,” Varnell said. “Employees were buying their own equipment, buying uniforms. A lot of that has changed. If they need it, it is provided for them now.”
Varnell continued “to clarify a couple things” about the specific claims Price made during his opening statement.
On Aug. 21, prior to Varnell’s jail explanation video, he posted an almost 10-minute-long video on Facebook to speak “truth to some of the false claims made by Mr. Price this past weekend.”
In that video, Varnell refutes most of the claims Price made during the meet and greet. Varnell said traffic stops are not a “primary focus” of daily patrols, but are still a vital part of the job. He also commented on DUI enforcement, deputies working weekends, the sheriff’s office responses to all crimes, budget management, food expenses, and an audit that disproved the claim of a $1.2 million “war chest.”
“In conclusion, it’s clear that 20 years in corrections has not adequately prepared my opponent for the role of sheriff,” Varnell said. “His campaign operates on half-truths, misinformation, speculation, lies and without real data or evidence.”
Price had not interacted with or responded to the videos made by Varnell by the publication of this article.
