Former Latimer County deputy arrested for missing evidence

OSBI agents arrested a former Latimer County sheriff’s deputy Thursday morning for stealing drug evidence while working as a county deputy.

The Latimer County sheriff requested the OSBI to investigate missing drug evidence from the department’s evidence room. The sheriff found drug evidence inside former deputy Bobby Joe Eubanks’ patrol vehicle when the sheriff was cleaning the deputy’s vehicle.

The sheriff had recently terminated Eubanks. At the time Eubanks was terminated, he was in charge of the department’s drug evidence room. The sheriff turned over the drug evidence found inside Eubanks’ vehicle to OSBI.

The OSBI agent assigned the case tracked the evidence and determined it had been sent to the OSBI laboratory for testing in 2011. At that time, an OSBI chemist determined the drugs contained methamphetamine.

The OSBI agent interviewed Eubanks. The former deputy admitted to stealing drug evidence two times. Eubanks claimed he needed meth to help him cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He had been deployed to Afghanistan while in the Army National Guard prior to his employment with the sheriff’s office.

Agents arrested Eubanks just before noon Thursday outside the Latimer County Sheriff’s Office in Wilburton.