Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Police officer fired for disguising an inmate as a deputy to transport prisoners

The deputy was fired back in April

Justin Carissimo
New York
Monday 20 June 2016 17:23 BST
( Susan Chiang/iStockphoto)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A brilliant Oklahoma police officer has been fired for disguising an inmate as a deputy to help him with his duties.

Ted Williams, 45, has been accused of removing an inmate’s restraints and dressing him up in a black windbreaker and sheriff ball cap on April 11. The inmate helped handle detainees at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Oklahoma City, and at one point, was left unattended, The Associated Press reports. Williams was fired from his post three days later when the inmate told a jail administrator about the incident.

In his termination letter, Garvin County Sheriff Larry Rhodes said his former deputy's actions were "inexcusable."

"I'm embarrassed about it, I'm mad about it, and if I could have stopped it,” Rhodes wrote, according to The Oklahoman. “If I would have been there, I can tell you it wouldn't have happened.”

Sheriff Roades said that two officers are required to transport detainees and said his former deputy was too impatient to wait for the second officer.

No state or federal charges have been filed against the former officer.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in