Murder-For-Hire Talk at Police Corruption Trial

Witness: Agent asked about murder for hire through informant
The Tulsa World by Ziva Branstetter - June 8, 2011

Grand jury investigates police corruption: Read all of the stories, view a timeline and read key documents. A witness in a police corruption trial Tuesday testified that a federal agent sent an informant to ask if she knew someone who could arrange the murder of a decorated Tulsa County sheriff's deputy. The witness, Debra Clayton, testified Tuesday that Brandon McFadden - then an agent for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms - sent an informant named Ryan Logsdon to ask her if she knew anyone "who would knock off or murder Lance Ramsey." Ramsey is a Tulsa County Sheriff's Office deputy assigned to the investigations division. He was named the 2009 deputy of the year and has worked for the Sheriff's Office since 1988, said Shannon Clark, a spokesman for the office. "Lance is a very good deputy, a long-term deputy and a decorated deputy," Clark said. He declined to comment on Clayton's testimony related to Ramsey. The testimony came during questioning by Shannon McMurray, a defense attorney for Nick DeBruin, one of three officers charged in the federal corruption case. Clayton did not offer additional details about the conversation. McFadden's attorney, Neal Kirkpatrick said, "The allegation by Debra Clayton that Brandon sought a hit man for anything is totally false." Clayton pleaded guilty March 28 in state court to three drug felonies - possession with intent to distribute and two counts of endeavoring to manufacture controlled drugs - and received seven years in prison, court records show. She testified Tuesday in a black-and-white-striped jail uniform and handcuffs. McFadden was an ATF agent from 2002 through 2009, when he resigned. He pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy May 6, 2010, in federal court and is cooperating with prosecutors. McFadden has been released to his home in Lubbock, Texas, and is expected to be a key witness in the trial next month for officers Jeff Henderson, 38, and Bill Yelton, 50. Henderson was indicted last year on 58 counts involving perjury, civil rights violations, drugs, witness tampering and attempted bribery. Yelton was indicted on seven counts involving civil rights violations, witness tampering and suborning perjury. Both remain in custody pending their trial, scheduled for July 25. McFadden has not been charged with any counts related to threats involving Ramsey. However, the indictment against McFadden states that he contacted a sheriff's deputy in February 2008 to inquire about whether a search warrant had been issued for a person identified only as "Individual 1," who is believed to be Logsdon, a World investigation shows. "Brandon J. McFadden subsequently confirmed to Individual 1 the anticipated execution of a search warrant by the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office. Individual 1 then contacted the Tulsa County deputy sheriff and stated that Individual 1 'had friends in high places' who had informed Individual 1 that a search warrant was going to be executed on Individual 1's residence, resulting in the cancellation of the impending search warrant," the indictment states. The indictment states that Individual 1 had an ongoing agreement to sell drugs for McFadden without prosecution, sharing some of the profits. During a hearing in March, FBI Agent Kevin Legleiter testified that based on his investigation, Henderson and McFadden allegedly pressured Logsdon into selling stolen drugs for them. McFadden and Henderson allegedly planted a large amount of marijuana on Logsdon in January 2007 and threatened to have his child removed from his custody if he did not cooperate with them, Legleiter said. The description of Individual 1 in the indictment is consistent with Legleiter's testimony about Logsdon. Logsdon later began working for the FBI as part of the corruption investigation. Ziva Branstetter 918-581-8306 ziva.branstetter@tulsaworld.com