Cleveland County Sheriff retires, drops civil lawsuit

Joe Lester

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) – An Oklahoma sheriff has dropped his lawsuit against county commissioners and says he’s retiring.

The Norman Transcript reports that Cleveland County Sheriff Joe Lester didn’t cite a reason for his decision to retire in his announcement Monday.

Lester’s retirement comes after the release of a state audit that identified problems, including possible mismanagement, over-expenditure of public funds and noncompliance with state law.

Lester filed the lawsuit against the Board of County Commissioners in March, contending that commissioners weren’t providing adequate funding as required by state law. County commissioners say depositions and a civil lawsuit trial scheduled for this week have been cancelled.

County Commissioner Darry Stacy says Undersheriff Rhett Burnett has taken the sheriff position by default.