TULSA, Oklahoma –
The Tulsa Police announced charges against two officers accused of concealing a shooting in 2020.
Lt. Marcus Harper and Officer Ananias Carson have been charged with accessory to a felony in connection with an August 24, 2020 shooting. Tulsa Police Chief Franklin announced that both officers have been placed on leave without pay.
According to an affidavit, Lt. Harper and Officer Carson were called to the home of former TPD officer Latoya Lisa Dythe after a shooting near 61st and Peoria involving Edward Townsell and Jonathan Jones. The affidavit states Jones was at the home of Dythe with the weapon used in the shooting when the two officers arrived. Harper and Carson knew of Jones’s involvement but did not report the crime and advised Dythe not to tell anyone they were present at the apartment.
-It says Dythe called Lt. Harper and Officer Carson to come over to her apartment, where they looked at the damage to her car and met with Dythe, her boyfriend and the boyfriend’s brother.
-It says Harper and Carson knew the brother was a suspect in the shooting and knew the guns used in the shooting were in Dythe’s apartment.
-The affidavit says Harper and Carson told Dythe’s boyfriend and brother to get rid of the guns and leave town and never mention Harper and Carson had been there.
-It says Harper and Carson both left before other officers arrived to investigate and neither filled out a report or told anyone they had been there until a search warrant was issued for Dythe’s cell phone and apartment days later.
-Harper has been with the department since 1995 and was a supervisor in the major crimes unit (known as homicide).
-He’s married to Tulsa City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper.
-Carson has been in the department since 2006 and was assigned to the Riverside Division.
-Both have been on paid leave since the investigation began in August of 2020 but are now on unpaid leave.
-Officer Dythe was later fired and charged in federal court with a separate case of buying her boyfriend a gun, then lying about it on federal forms.
-She was recently sentenced to 5 years probation for that case.
-Her boyfriend, Devon Jones, pleaded guilty in federal court in September to giving her the money to buy the gun for him.
-The charges against Harper and Carson are not convictions.
-Harper’s booking photo is first and Carson, second.
-Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said in part, “You can’t just violate the rules of law and carry a badge and a gun. This community won’t stand for that and this nation won’t stand for that. And I think that’s evidenced by what took place last year. My hope is that the community sees that this department and I am not going to stand idly by and let things run rampant on this department. The expectations that I set I don’t think are unachievable. Again, I want the best for this department and the best for this city, and I’m going to work to ensure that.”
