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Capt. Phil Blevins, commander of the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office investigations division, allegedly downplayed the crimes reportedly confessed to by Kevin Russell Cobbs in March. Cobbs had been the principal and a coach at a private Christian school in a suburb of Oklahoma City.

Blevins allegedly tried to convince a parent of one of the basketball players that their child wasn’t a real victim because Cobbs’ video captured the boys below their faces and in their underwear, not nude. He allegedly closed the phone call by saying that how the parent judges Cobbs on Earth is how God will judge the parent in Heaven.

The parent described the conversation to Lee Enterprises’ Public Service Journalism Team as inappropriate and disgusting because Blevins “went hard to protect Kevin.� The parent spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation, about how Blevins didn’t express empathy or sorrow for the kids who were covertly recorded while undressed in a locker room.

“Who's (Blevins) really protecting? Because he wasn't protecting my kid,� the parent said. “He damn sure wasn't saying, ‘I'm sorry that happened to your kid. I'm sorry that these kids were subjected to that.’ That was not the tone. It was poor Kevin.�

Cobbs isn’t the first instance in which Blevins has been accused of siding with an alleged child predator.

Ronald Akins groomed and preyed on underage girls on his high school basketball team for several years after a sexual assault investigation by Blevins — then at the Grady County Sheriff’s Office — apparently went nowhere. And Blevins’ case folder went missing, along with evidence: a love note given to a victim who had been an underage student at the time, according to police reports obtained by Cameron Spradling, a lawyer in Oklahoma City, and shared with Lee Enterprises.

Lee’ attempts to reach Blevins for comment were unsuccessful. Canadian County Sheriff Chris West said that Blevins had no desire to speak with Lee for this story. West characterized his captain as an excellent person and investigator.

Canadian County Undersheriff Kevin Ward said he spoke with Blevins and that Blevins doesn’t have a specific recollection of the conversation about Cobbs as described by the parent because the office was inundated with calls from worried parents of boys on the basketball team.

Ward said that Blevins told him he never advocated for Cobbs and that he believes Cobbs is a predator and should go to prison. Ward said Blevins had tried to reassure parents that Cobbs didn’t go “hands on� with their kids or have nude locker room images of them.

“So (Blevins) was just trying to allay their fears that, yes, it's bad, but it's not this — it's not something that could one day end up on the internet. Your child isn’t going to be shown in these horrible, exposing kinds of pictures,� Ward said of their conversation.

Cobbs, 55, who had been the principal and boys basketball coach at Southwest Covenant Schools, a private Christian school in Yukon, is charged with two felonies.

One charge is possession of a digital picture of a nude student in a lewd and lascivious display. The other is a charge of Peeping Tom with multimedia equipment for his alleged clandestine filming of partially unclothed children with a lewd and lascivious purpose, along with sharing digital images taken from the video.

Canadian County sheriff’s Detective Brian Dawson was part of a team that served a search warrant March 25 at Cobbs’ home.

After being read his rights, Cobbs named the 16-year-old boy whose nude photo Dawson found in a hidden folder on his phone, according to the probable cause arrest affidavit. Dawson wrote that the photo was a naked teen lying facedown, “with his bottom in the air.�

Cobbs reportedly said that the boy had been at his home and air dropped the nude photo to everyone in the house.

Dawson later found the locker room video in Cobbs’ Google Drive and screenshots of it in a password-protected folder called, “My Eyes Only�, according to the probable cause arrest affidavit.

Cobbs then reportedly admitted to Dawson that he filmed the boys in the locker room and sent screenshots from it to other people through Snapchat, according to his probable cause arrest affidavit.

The parent who spoke with Lee Enterprises about their phone call with Blevins said they don’t trust Blevins or the criminal justice system after their phone call.

Sheriff West said that protection of children is his top priority and that if an employee were to interfere with an investigation of a child predator then that person wouldn’t work for him anymore. West said he thinks there was a misunderstanding between Blevins and the parent.

“I'm not surprised that the people that are pushing this story with you — that I'm a villain, and Phil's a villain — that they would try to push this type of new information to you so that you could follow up on it. But I totally refute all of it,� West said. “And again, my undersheriff is the one that talked to Capt. Blevins.�

Blevins allegedly warned victim that her abuser could sue for defamation

In 2015 at 20 years old, Shelby Boyd reported to Blevins, who was an investigator at the Grady County Sheriff’s Office at the time, how Ron Akins had groomed and sexually assaulted her from age 13 to 14.

She handed the detective a note with “I love you� written on it, which she said Akins had slipped in her middle school locker.

Boyd, now 31, recalled in a recent interview with Lee Enterprises how Blevins acted as if he weren’t on her side.

She said Blevins asked her to seek out other victims to corroborate her story. Blevins warned her that Akins could sue for defamation, she said, so she discreetly investigated what Blevins, the paid detective, wouldn’t.

Some three years later in 2018, Boyd found and spoke with another victim. She alerted Blevins again — but nothing apparently came of that report, either.

“You can tell (Blevins) has a lack of integrity and urgency when it comes to sexual abuse cases,� Boyd said.

‘I just felt like it didn’t matter that it happened’

Akins wasn’t arrested until another victim came forward on June 25, 2021 — but to a different Grady County sheriff’s detective. Lt. Belland Gornick took action and arrested Akins later that same day.

After the arrest became public, Boyd contacted Gornick. She said Gornick was amazing but had no clue about her because her case file and the love note ended up missing.

In his report, Gornick wrote that neither he nor the undersheriff were able to find Blevins’ case file. Gornick noted that he did find recorded interviews conducted by Blevins that were stored on a computer, showing Blevins with a case folder.

“Coming forward is a very hard thing to do, and for all of it to be lost — I just felt like it didn’t matter that it happened,� Boyd said through tears.

Akins, 58, is serving 15 years in prison. He pleaded guilty in August 2023 to 10 felony counts of sexual misconduct against three young female victims. The convictions include lewd or indecent actions to a child under 16 years of age, sexual battery, rape by instrumentation and attempted first-degree rape.

Four counts were for crimes Akins committed against Boyd when she was at Friend Public Schools. Akins coached there until he was hired as the Ninnekah High School girls basketball head coach for the 2014-2015 school year.

“It’s crazy that (Blevins) still has that job after everything went down,� Boyd said. “(Akins is) in prison now — and for a case that (Blevins) botched.�

Two civil lawsuits are targeting Canadian County Sheriff Chris West and the county in part for hiring practices that accuse them of engendering a culture of sexual impropriety — allegations that West denies. The lawsuits, as well as four former deputies interviewed by Lee Enterprises, point to Blevins as an example of systemic problems under West.

Sheriff says Blevins ‘a fine Christian man’

On July 12, 2021, West announced that he had hired Blevins to command Canadian County’s investigations division as a captain who has "competence, professionalism and integrity.�

It was less than three weeks after Akins had been arrested.

West recently told Lee Enterprises that he stands by Blevins as both a quality investigator and person.

“This is Canadian County, and I can’t be responsible for what goes on in Grady County,� West said. “I can tell you this — that I've known Phil Blevins for many years and find him to be an individual of the highest caliber of ethics and morality. He's a fine Christian man. I believe he's a deacon in his church, and he's done an outstanding job for me.�

West, a controversial figure, was at the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C. And he was caught on Oklahoma City Police body-cam footage in May trying to use his position to get out of a written warning for speeding.

Four former Canadian County Sheriff’s deputies or detention officers have been charged with or convicted of sexual misconduct that took place in a two-year span from August 2021 to August 2023 under West. West was elected sheriff of the county in 2016, taking office in January 2017.

West said he and his office work with investigators and prosecutors to ensure that deputies who breach public trust get “the full weight of the criminal justice system.� He said he began instituting pre-employment polygraph tests and requiring new hires to sign paperwork to acknowledge that they understand it’s a crime to have sex with inmates.

He added that sworn personnel — except for top administrators — began wearing body cameras within the past year. He said patrol and inmate transport vehicles now are outfitted with in-car recording systems, too.

West was sworn in as the National Sheriffs’ Association president in June. He is a past president of the Oklahoma Sheriff’s Association, which named him Sheriff of the Year in 2019.

‘None of those 14 girls would have been victimized’

Shelby Boyd felt “utterly defeated� as nothing materialized from her reports about Ron Akins’ predatory behavior to Phil Blevins at the Grady County Sheriff’s Office in 2015 and 2018.

Her “worst nightmares became reality� when even more victims came forward after the arrest of Akins in 2021 because she had wanted to protect others from enduring grooming and sexual abuse, too.

In a victim impact statement written for criminal sentencing Aug. 17, 2023, Boyd pinned negligence and carelessness on Blevins and school officials for allowing Akins to roam free for nearly six more years.

“This crime has left me with deep emotional scars that I will carry with me the rest of my life,� Boyd wrote. “As a direct result of Mr. Akins’ actions, I have not only struggled with trusting others but more importantly the ability to trust myself. I have spent years and countless hours in therapy fighting for my life back and undoing all the damage he has inflicted upon me.�

In September 2024, Ninnekah Public Schools ultimately settled a sweeping civil lawsuit from 14 alleged victims of Akins for $7.5 million.

The alleged victims accused Akins of telling them he would treat them better than their boyfriends, patting them on their butts, requiring them in practice to “block him out� by pushing their butts directly into him, inappropriate sexual comments about their bodies, inappropriate sexual jokes in their presence, and physically and sexually touching students.

And they accused five school officials of negligence, gross negligence by employees and intentional infliction of emotional distress — all amid sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual discrimination and a hostile or abusive education environment.

“Had Phillip Blevins done his job, none of those 14 girls would have been victimized, and Ninnekah would not have been left holding the bag,� said Cameron Spradling, the lawyer who represents Boyd and the Ninnekah victims.

The original lawsuit, with Blevins as a defendant, was filed Aug. 13, 2021 — about a month after West publicly announced he had hired Blevins.

Among several defenses, Blevins’ attorneys argued that he was entitled to qualified immunity, a judicial doctrine that protects an officer unless an alleged violation of a law or constitutional right was clearly established before the violation occurred.

They also argued the plaintiffs failed to offer evidence of “any extreme or outrageous� conduct by Blevins to support allegations of intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Spradling said he ultimately had to drop Blevins as a defendant in the case because a statute of limitations expired where he was concerned. He added that the qualified immunity defense would have been difficult to overcome despite Blevins mishandling or botching the case.

“It’s just wrong,� Spradling said. “The only one that could check him and take him out of there would be a sheriff. Knowing this information and still allowing him to have that position, it’s shocking to me.�

Boyd could no longer be a plaintiff after Blevins was removed from the lawsuit.

Blevins had been demoted after ‘several issues’

Blevins apparently had some degree of disciplinary history at Grady County before West hired him at Canadian County.

He was demoted from undersheriff before the Akins case re-emerged June 25, 2021.

Grady County Sheriff Gary Boggess told Lee Enterprises that then-Sheriff Jim Weir hired Boggess from outside of the agency to replace Blevins as undersheriff.

Boggess’ first day as undersheriff was on May 26, 2021. He said he wasn’t told why Blevins was demoted, nor could he later find documentation about it.

“There were several issues that had come up in the office, and Phil had been demoted and had been moved (back) to investigations,� Boggess said.

Attempts by Lee Enterprises to reach Weir for comment were unsuccessful.

Blevins claims ‘he said, she said’

After Lt. Belland Gornick arrested Ron Akins on June 25, 2021, Blevins contacted Gornick later that day to say he had worked a case against Akins.

Blevins said he “believed everything� Shelby Boyd had told him but that prosecutors didn’t pursue charges because it was “all a he said, she said case,� according to a report from Gornick.

Gornick noted he then spoke with Jason Hicks, the Grady County district attorney, who couldn’t find any intake or decline-to-file information from Blevins’ case.

Hicks told the Lee Enterprises Public Service Jouranlism team there is no reason to believe that Blevins presented anything to his office, with no record of Blevins contacting a prosecutor about Akins or Boyd. Hicks said that type of allegation would be entered into the office’s case management system as an ongoing investigation.

“We simply do not sign off on ‘no investigation’ or decline to file a case without the appropriate investigation being done, especially when there are allegations that a child has been injured,� Hicks said. “It is preposterous to me to think that anyone would suggest that they can call an (assistant district attorney) and get a decline-to-file without actually presenting a case for a review.

“We take child sexual abuse, molestation, sexual assault, and any other case of this nature very seriously and want to ensure that we have a case that can be prosecuted and a defendant is incarcerated.�

Neither Gornick nor Blevins could find Blevins’ own investigative case file or the note that Boyd said Akins had given her, according to Gornick’s report.

Gornick noted that Blevins had already put in his resignation notice from the Grady County Sheriff’s Office for June 30, 2021, prior to the latest child sexual abuse report against Akins on June 25, 2021.

Only a couple of weeks after Gornick arrested Akins, West extolled Blevins in a hiring announcement July 12, 2021.

“I was in need of someone with Captain Blevins’ background in both investigative matters, as well as in administrative and managerial oversight,� West said in the statement. “I’m very grateful God placed him in our path, and I’m confident Phil will lead his unit with competence, professionalism and integrity.�

‘Most alarming information to emerge’

As Gornick’s investigation into Akins after the defendant’s arrest continued to unfold in summer 2021, so too did a subsequent Title IX investigation by the Oklahoma State Department of Education.

State Superintendent Joy Hofmeister expressed alarm in a Sept. 15, 2021, letter to Ninnekah Public Schools Board of Education.

It contained an allegation that Blevins told school leadership that no action was warranted from them.

Hofmeister wrote “perhaps the most alarming information to emerge� from a discussion with then-Superintendent Todd Bunch in July 2021 was that school administrators had been aware of allegations against Akins for inappropriate contact or conduct involving at least one prior student.

"Bunch said that the deputy (identified through the record as Phillip Blevins) told the district 'absolutely not, there's nothing that warrants any action on your part,' " Hofmeister’s letter states.

Hofmeister wrote that she still faulted school officials for their lack of action.

Blevins’ interviews contained alarm bells

While unable to locate the original case folder, Blevins and Gornick did track down Blevins’ recorded investigative interviews from late 2015 and early 2016.

Blevins reportedly conducted 16 interviews, including one of Akins, some of which ostensibly should have raised alarm bells in addition to Boyd’s report, according to a Lee Enterprises’ review of Grady County Sheriff’s Office documents obtained by Spradling.

Gornick summarized Blevins’ interviews in a report.

Akins himself admitted that in one instance after a playoff game he had “kissed a girl on the forehead and that maybe he shouldn’t have done that.�

He denied inappropriately touching the breasts or vagina of any girls. He also denied kissing any girls on their lips.

Blevins tried unsuccessfully to convince Akins to agree to schedule a lie-detector test for a later date.

In other summarized interviews, another former student and player told Blevins that she remembered a time when Akins hugged her and rubbed his hands halfway down her back. Akins looked as if he wanted “something,� she said, clarifying his look appeared to be like “kiss me.�

A Friend Public School teacher said she was reprimanded by administrators for reporting that she saw a girl sitting on Akins’ lap in his dark classroom while watching a video.

A Friend Public School board member expressed fear of being sued because the board member thought an administrator might have brushed aside allegations against Akins.

West hiring Blevins reportedly stunned the office

West’s move to hire Blevins – amid the Akins shockwaves – stunned people in the office, according to Justin Mize, who was a Canadian County deputy at the time.

He said deputies knew through law enforcement circles and media reports that Blevins had messed up his Akins investigation.

Mize worked under Blevins as a detective for less than a year. He left the office in April 2022 after disputes with leadership, including Blevins. He later lost to West in the 2024 Republican primary election for sheriff.

“I don’t think (Blevins) is a good investigator at all,� Mize said. “I think he rides the coattails of everyone else’s work.�

West called Mize a “substandard employee� who “has an axe to grind� after he left the Sheriff’s Office. West said there are other disgruntled former employees, too, who don’t like him because “they didn’t measure up.�

“I run a very professional operation,� West said.