Can we just fire everyone who works in Oklahoma politics and start over?
Less than 24 hours after two Oklahoma politicians were charged with sex crimes, the OHP released a 256-page investigation into Mary Fallin's former Personal Assistant Travis Brauer. He's accused of getting wasted and taking up skirt shots of a woman during a late night budget meeting at the State Capitol over the summer.
Here's a screenshot of a KFOR video from the night in question:
If the allegations are true, it wouldn't be a big surprise. We live in Oklahoma, and deviant crimes involving politicians and their minions are now a common, everyday occurrence.
Plus, Travis has already shown us that he sucks at taking discreet photos...
We posted that in 2016. I had no clue at the time that Mary Fallin's red cape jacket would not be the most disturbing thing in the photo.
Also, I'm just throwing this out there, but after I published that pic a Mole told me that one of Travis's duties was to sneak photos of people at events for the Governor and her staff. I wonder if... nah... I won't go there.
The OHP report provided other weird details about the alleged incident. Travis claimed he "lost his phone at the lake" after the OHP asked him to turn it over for evidence. He also creeped on the victim's Facebook page, and googled phrases like "how to completely wipe a phone” and “what information will be pulled from phone when law enforcement scnas (sic) it" after learning of the investigation.
Here's a blurb from Non Doc's coverage:
OHP investigators contacted Brauer by phone Friday, May 26, and asked if he was willing to submit his personal cell phone for forensic analysis. The report states Brauer said he was willing to submit his phone but was headed to a lake and would not be able to submit the phone until the following Tuesday.
The report notes Brauer never provided his phone, telling troopers he lost it at the lake. After Brauer voluntarily submitted his laptop June 5, investigators found a one-hour gap of no documented phone activity. They also found Snapchat images taken prior to the meeting and Snapchat images taken after the meeting, but none taken during the meeting.
On Brauer’s laptop, investigators found more than a dozen Google searches made between the time OHP requested Brauer’s phone and the time he ultimately met with investigators to say he had lost it, according to the report. The searches concerned how to manipulate phone data. Those searches included, “how to completely wipe a phone,” “how to recover deleted pictures on android” and “what information will be pulled from phone when law enforcement scnas (sic) it.”
That's great. I bet he also searched "How to survive prison," and "Holy fuck. What have I done."
Actually, that would have been an overreaction. Travis probably should have just googled "Oklahoma Peeping Tom Laws." If he did that, he would have learned that taking up skirt photos in a public place is only a misdemeanor (at least that's how I interpreted it) and destroying the evidence is only going to make things worse.
As Non Doc and other media outlets have noted, the investigation also turned up some embarrassing Snapchats that showed Travis drinking with lobbyists at the Capitol and flipping off the House chambers:
Hey, I agree with Travis on something. Fuck the House of Representatives and the damage they've done to the state. Also, fuck deviants who take upskirt photos of women at meetings and then try to destroy all the evidence.
Anyway, David Prater has announced that his office is close to making a decision on whether or not to file any charges. Even with the strong circumstantial evidence, I think it would be hard to convict Brauer on the upskirt stuff, but charging him with destroying evidence seems like a slam dunk. I guess we'll wait and see.
