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He wanted her to get cleaned up after the attack.

The woman, K.C., 44, and at the time an inmate in Marshall County, Oklahoma, recalls dropping the napkins on the ground near three barns alongside a gravel road. It was in the Chickasaw Nation, about 180 miles south of Tulsa.

The Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team has agreed not to identify victims of alleged sexual abuse who spoke on condition of anonymity.

While driving away from the scene of her attack to the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office in El Reno, K.C. said she glanced out the squad car window. The wad of napkins was still lying in the grass.

Those napkins, and the semen inside her jeans, proved key pieces of evidence in pursuing sexual assault charges – and leading to a conviction – of her attacker, the same deputy, Wesley Wayne Hunter. He allegedly requested the assignment to drive the female inmate from Durant, where she was being held on an open warrant for failure to comply with a judge’s order after her sentences were suspended for financial and computer crimes.

The assault, according to court documents, occurred just 29 days into Hunter’s marriage to another woman. The deputy complained to the prisoner – just before the incident – that his new wife had been withholding sex from him, court records allege.

Hunter told her that he could turn off his GPS tracker for six minutes without arousing suspicion, the court documents allege. A federal investigator determined Hunter’s mobile tracking system was turned off for about 10 minutes in the vicinity of where the victim described the rape.

In federal court, Hunter, 29, pleaded guilty in January to falsification of records related to the case in a deal that included charges of aggravated sexual assault being dropped. He was sentenced to five years, 10 months in federal prison after the deal was struck in U.S. District Court in Eastern Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, in Chickasaw Nation Tribal Court on April 16, Hunter pleaded guilty to rape for the 2023 sexual assault on K.C. He was sentenced to three years to be served concurrent with the federal sentence.

The attack by Hunter is part of a larger pattern within the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office, according to a Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team review of court records and interviews with former employees of the office, lawyers, victims and witnesses.

Four former Canadian County Sheriff’s deputies or detention officers have been charged in criminal court or have been named in civil court cases on allegations of sexual misconduct since Chris West was elected sheriff of the county, located about 34 miles west of Oklahoma City, in 2016. He took office in January 2017.

West, a controversial figure, was at the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol in Washington, D.C. He also 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.

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.

West is accused by several former deputies interviewed by Lee Enterprises of presiding over a “good-ol’ boys� network where sexual misconduct allegations have been ignored or swept under the rug, generating unease or fear among employees and inmates.

The three-term sheriff called those allegations ridiculous, saying he holds extensive leadership education and runs “a very professional operation.�

Investigators, lawyers and former deputies told Lee Public Service Journalism Team investigative reporters that there are at least nine known victims of sexual assault by Canadian County deputies.

In a telephone interview with Lee Enterprises, West said he doesn’t “give much credence� to reports of additional undisclosed victims because disgruntled former employees have axes to grind against him.

West said he typically calls in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to conduct independent probes when deputies are accused of breaching public trust — “especially in a nature like this.� He said he and his office work with the investigators and prosecutors to ensure offending deputies get “the full weight of the criminal justice system.�

“And if there are victims, and they're silent, they need to come out of their silence and come to us so that we can do something about it,� West said.

Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team spoke to more than a dozen victims, lawyers, former and current Canadian County officials and investigators, some under condition of anonymity.

"I’m not just afraid of being in Canadian County but afraid to be in the State of Oklahoma,� K.C. told Lee Enterprises through her attorney, Rachel Bussett. “Hunter did not take responsibility for what he did to me. Instead, he blamed me for causing him to do it."

A civil lawsuit filed by one woman who claims she was sexually assaulted during a prisoner transport states:

“West had a pattern and practice of allowing male officers to transport female inmates — both pretrial and post-conviction inmates — without … proper safety mechanisms such as dash cams or in-vehicle cameras, body cams, use of female Deputies or witnesses and/or without proper policies and procedures to document travel and to protect the constitutional rights of inmates.�

West told Lee Enterprises that he couldn’t comment specifically about ongoing litigation.

But he did say he has instituted pre-employment polygraph tests and requires new hires to sign paperwork acknowledging that they understand it’s a crime to have sex with inmates.

“Not only is it against the law, but we actually spell it out to them,� West said.

Within the past year, he added, sworn personnel — except for top administrators — began wearing body cameras. He said patrol squads and vehicles used to transport inmates now are outfitted with in-car recording systems, too.

The Canadian County Sheriff’s Office policy states that a deputy shall be of the same sex as an inmate being transported “(w)hen possible and practical.� Deputies of the opposite sex may conduct “a limited pat-down frisk� on an inmate and, if possible, should be observed by a witness or perform the search in front of the transport vehicle’s camera.

Policy requires body-worn and in-car cameras to always record “the duration� of inmate transports unless there are mechanical issues.

West, who graduated from the FBI National Academy, refuted any notion that he leverages favoritism or retribution to operate a “good-ol’ boys� organization.

He retired as a captain of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol in 2012 after what he described as a successful 29-year career. He said he then attained degrees in criminal justice and management leadership.

“Integrity and character are very important to me,� West said.

Part of a national problem?

Bussett said K.C.’s case, and others like it in this Oklahoma county, are examples of abuse of power that aren’t unique to Canadian County, which continues “the ongoing acts of commercial sexual assault and trafficking of women who are under their care, custody and control.�

“This has been happening, not just in Canadian County but throughout the country for years, where people abused their power,� Bussett said. “Because it's not about sex. It's about power.�

Such power was asserted against men and women by employees of the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office, according to court documents reviewed by Lee investigative reporters and interviews with victims and attorneys who say there are at least nine known victims by employees of the county sheriff’s office. Inmates also were allegedly sexually assaulted by sheriff’s officials.

David Fathi, director of the National Prison Project for the ACLU, agrees that the county isn’t an outlier, saying cases at the county, city, state and federal levels are all too frequent throughout the country.

Fathi pointed to the “Dublin Rape Club� at a now-closed federal prison in Dublin, California. The case in December drew a massive government settlement — $116 million, the most ever by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons — paid out to more than 100 women sexually assaulted or abused by employees of the prison.

It’s also not limited to publicly run facilities, he said, recalling a lawsuit in which the ACLU won a settlement against a private transport company.

“I mean the sexual assault and abuse of women, prisoners, generally, and also during transport, provides opportunities to be away from other officers, away from witnesses,� Fathi said. “And it just leaves the victim completely isolated and alone with no witnesses, except the person who’s raping her…This is not an isolated incident.�

Targeted by the county

In Canadian County, another example includes the criminal and civil cases against former Deputy David Wayne Loman for the alleged rape and sexual battery of at least two women he was driving between jails in 2021 and 2022.

Loman, 61, has denied the allegations made by both women in the cases.

It was early September 2021, and J.C., of the Chickasaw Nation living in Canadian County, had been charged two years earlier with drug trafficking and was given a seven-year suspended sentence in March 2020 in exchange for providing testimony against another trafficker.

She had, according to a civil complaint she later filed, satisfied the terms of her probation. But her civil complaint alleges that the county sheriff and district attorney “conspired to interfere with (J.C.’s) ability to successfully complete the terms of her suspended sentence.�

“The Canadian County District Attorney’s Office has targeted (J.C.) because she did not provide the kind of testimony that they desired,� the complaint says.

Authorities sought to revoke the suspended sentence, and a bench warrant was issued for J.C.’s arrest in January 2021.

Even though J.C. complied with obligations to appear in court, her complaint states that “the District Attorney’s Office and the Court failed to recall the warrant of arrest.�

On Aug. 26, 2021, she was a passenger in a stopped car when an officer ran the names of the vehicle’s occupants through a police database and found an outstanding warrant for J.C.

“I explained to the officer, ‘No, I did every court date,’� J.C. told Lee Enterprises in an interview. “I showed them documentation online that I had, you know, been to every court date. And so they went and double-checked. Well, Canadian County wanted me for failure to appear.�

From there, J.C.’s experience spiraled into an ordeal of sexual assault and jail time, her civil complaint states.

After her arrest, J.C. spent four days in Pottawatomie County Jail in lockdown before Loman picked her up for transport to the Canadian County Jail in September of 2021.

She was wearing street clothing, and Loman had her get into the front seat instead of the backseat, which is customary for the transport of anyone arrested by law enforcement, J.C. alleges.

“I didn't think much about it,� she said. “It didn't register in my brain.�

Loman pulled across the street into a gas station, where he directed her to get out of the squad and noticed something was in her back pocket, J.C. said.

“I was in my street clothes, and I had a Kool-Aid packet� in the pocket that she had bought at the Pottawatomie County Jail, she said. “Then he proceeded to do a patdown in the parking lot.�

Groping her as he did so, Loman allegedly began getting sexual.

“It's not in the way that an officer should be,� J.C. said of the patdown. “Lingering, real slow, you know, feeling and searching. And that’s kind of at the point where I'm, like, my brain is starting to work, and I'm not liking the situation at all.�

The complaint puts it this way: “Loman pulls her out of the car and performed his patdown ‘search’ on Plaintiff, groping her breast, buttocks and genital area under the guise of doing a patdown for his safety.�

From buckling her seatbelt for her to making sexual comments, the ride back to Canadian County stirred fears in J.C.’s mind. Then, without notice, Loman allegedly said, “My car is like Vegas – what happens in my car stays in my car.�

“My heart just sank to my stomach,� she said. “That’s when it really started going south…He started talking to me in a very sexual manner. I had a tank top on, and the strap was falling off my shoulder. I went to pull it up, and he basically stopped me and was like, ‘No, I'll, I'll do that. And that was his, I think that was his opening to be able to start touching me.�

Back in the car, Loman got a call from the sheriff’s office and learned that they did not need J.C., who was then handcuffed in the squad, and that he could drive J.C. to her residence, she alleges.

Instead, Loman began getting more sexual, controlling and masturbating as they drove along the highway, trying to get her to touch him while he groped at her breasts and genitals, according to J.C. and her civil complaint.

Once back in Canadian County, about an hour’s drive from Pottawatomie County, Loman stated to J.C. that he needed to check on cattle he owned, she said. So they detoured, driving along county roads away from the Canadian County Jail. Loman parked in a remote area, pulled J.C. from the vehicle and sexually assaulted her by the side of the car, she said.

Not long into his alleged assault, a car drove past. Loman shuffled J.C. back into the squad and drove off, she alleges.

One of the last things Loman said to her was, “It’s your word against mine. I’ll make sure you go to jail. You’re a criminal, and I’m a cop. No one will believe you,� according to J.C.’s complaint.

The federal court dismissed the lawsuit on Sept. 30 in part with prejudice, in part without prejudice, and the rest was remanded to state court. The lawsuit was dismissed because her original lawyers, the Shelton Law Firm in Oklahoma City, failed to file it on time.

Then, on Oct. 30, Bussett, the current attorney who was not involved in the original lawsuit, filed a motion to leave to amend the complaint, repleading the claim that was dismissed without prejudice -- which alleges commercial sex trafficking -- and adding a civil RICO claim alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act against West and Loman.

The county was dismissed completely from the lawsuit in federal court.

Requesting females to transport

While J.C.’s accusations against Loman are in a civil lawsuit, the former deputy faces similar allegations in a criminal case in Jefferson County.

Loman is charged with forcible oral sodomy, rape by instrumentation, and sexual battery of K.F., a 31-year-old woman he was transporting between jails on April 7, 2022.

The criminal case is pending in Jefferson County District Court. A jury trial date is set for Feb. 23, 2026.

K.F. alleges Loman fondled her breasts at a car wash in Madill and then forced her to perform oral sex about 40 minutes later on a road east of Waurika, according to an arrest affidavit.

“While driving to Waurika, Loman told (K.F.) that he specifically requested and selected the Madill transport because he knew there was a female that needed to be picked up,� Loman’s arrest affidavit states. “Loman also shared his sexual fantasies with (her) and showed her pictures on his personal phone.

“Loman also told her that if anybody asked why he stopped, he would tell them he got lost, and that they would both be in trouble if she told anybody what happened.�

The woman filed a complaint five days later with jail officials while still incarcerated in the Canadian County Jail.

An Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations detective interviewed Loman, who reportedly acknowledged that K.F. hadn’t been wearing her bra upon their arrival at the Canadian County Jail.

Loman couldn’t explain how or why other than to suggest she took it off while unattended in his vehicle outside the Jefferson County Jail, according to the arrest affidavit. The affidavit noted that security video showed the woman not making any “furtive movements� while seated by herself in Loman’s car at that jail.

After the interview, a Canadian County Sheriff’s deputy drove Loman home. The affidavit states that Loman “spontaneously exclaimed� to the deputy that he was going to jail, needed an attorney and was “in a bad, bad, bad, way/spot.�

Loman also is charged with a pattern of criminal offenses in the case, which appears to be connected to the sexual assault of a different woman — J.C. — in September of 2021.

“The involved Deputies have made comments to these women which suggest they were neither the first nor the only individuals each of these Deputies have assaulted,� Bussett wrote in the J.C. civil complaint against Loman.

‘This was so foul’

Sexual misconduct charges against Canadian County Sheriff’s Office employees aren’t limited to deputies transporting inmates.

The courthouse and jail are settings in criminal cases, too.

Former Deputy David Joseph Randall, 53, was charged Aug. 8, 2024, with one count of felony sexual battery after a woman’s complaint.

Randall, a court bailiff, allegedly admitted to forcing the woman to put her hand on his genitals over his clothing while in an office at the courthouse.

The 43-year-old victim was out of custody but in court for her criminal case on Aug. 11, 2023. The woman told investigators that Randall was “making eyes at her� in a courtroom and asked her to follow him into his office, which she said she did because she thought his request pertained to official court business.

“(The woman) said the deputy came on to her every which way up and down and almost stuck her hand down his pants,� according to Randall’s arrest affidavit. “(She) said this was so foul.�

Randall then allegedly handed her his card and told her to call him so they could have dinner.

“(She) said as quickly as this happened that she had no doubt that the deputy had done this to multiple women in his office,� according to the affidavit.

The investigator, Capt. Phil Blevins, noted that Randall corroborated the woman’s story during his interview two days after he had spoken with the woman.

“I informed Deputy Randall this was more serious than what happened the last time,� Blevins wrote.

West, the sheriff, had previously suspended Randall for three days without pay in October 2023 after an investigation into a complaint determined that Randall had inappropriate electronic communication with women who were in custody or at the courthouse.

Also, as a result, West had transferred Randall to the Children’s Justice Center as a juvenile investigator and required him to take a sexual harassment training course. An investigator who spoke with Lee Enterprises said Randall’s conduct “was an open secret, openly known� at the Canadian County courthouse.

While alone in the interrogation room, Blevins’ affidavit stated that Randall was recorded saying: “You dumb ass, I knew it right when I did it, you’re a dumb ass. You are a dumb ass. You let everybody down, and you are a dumb ass.�

Two years earlier, Raven Beryl Benson, 39, then a detention officer, was charged May 4, 2022, with second-degree rape.

Benson allegedly had sex with a 35-year-old person in the legal custody of the Canadian County Sheriff’s Office, with whom she had direct authority over.

She also was charged with bringing tobacco into the Canadian County Jail. The alleged crimes took place between Dec. 1, 2021, and Feb. 28, 2022.

Benson pleaded guilty on March 14 to conspiracy against the state, a lesser charge, and bringing contraband into a jail. She was sentenced to two years in state prison and five more years deferred.

The pattern of abuse in Canadian County casts a pall over public servants who’ve taken an oath to serve and protect, victims and legal officials say.

“I have this very strong dislike for Canadian County,� J.C. said, noting that even the sight of a squad car is traumatic for her.

“Being arrested is not a good thing, but it's supposed to be, I guess, safe,� she said “And when that safety is gone, when you can't trust the police, who can you trust? They're supposed to be, you know, the ones, people you can go to either rely on or for any kind of help that you need. And when you can't do that, that was really, really devastating.�