A few days ago, State Rep. Justin Humphrey – the Bigfoot-hunting, cockfighting-curious, nano-technology-fearing quack lawmaker from Lane who’s now running for Lt. Governor – posted a video promising to “shed light on more shenanigans afoot in the state government.”
If you’re a fan of projection and hypocrisy, you’ll love it.
When I saw that post, I let out an audible laugh.
Not because there aren’t shenanigans afoot in Oklahoma state government – there are always shenanigans afoot in Oklahoma state government.
I laughed because if anyone knows what government shenanigans look like, especially from the inside, it’s Justin Humphrey.
A while back, an anonymous Ogle Mole sent us a treasure trove of Oklahoma Department of Corrections documents detailing Humphrey’s chaotic career as a parole officer from the early 2000s through 2010.
That’s worth noting because DOC is the very same agency Humphrey has spent years attacking as a lawmaker – suing them for misconduct and retaliation, and even filing a bill to rename it the Department of Corruption.
Although Humphrey’s mission to expose corruption inside DOC may appear noble on its face, the records suggest his battle with the agency may be rooted less in good-government reform and more in settling old vendettas from his turbulent years working there!
For example, according to a 150-page DOC Internal Affairs report obtained via The Ogle Mole Network, the agency investigated – and even referred to the district attorney for possible criminal prosecution – Humphrey’s alleged misuse of paid leave for financial gain.
In the name of public interest, we’ve attached the complete file below.
The general gist is that for a period of roughly eight months – while Humphrey was on paid sick leave from his Oklahoma Department of Corrections job as a parole officer – he was accused of working a second job at the Atoka County Drug Court, effectively double-dipping on the taxpayers’ dime.
According to the leaked files, Humphrey got caught when a supervisor made an unscheduled stop at the Atoka County courthouse and discovered Humphrey – who should have been home on sick leave – apparently hard at work in a suit and tie.
When the supervisor confronted Humphrey about working another job while on paid sick leave, the future candidate for Lt. Governor hilariously responded that the DOC made him sick and he was only a volunteer, anyway – nothing to see here, folks!
But Humphrey’s assertion of volunteerism came back to bite him in the ass when he was later caught attempting to pay himself $27,000 as Administrator of the Atoka County Drug Court.
The case was serious enough to be referred to the district attorney for possible prosecution, but ultimately, no charges were filed, and the matter was quietly closed after Humphrey left the agency.
That wasn’t the only time Humphrey blurred the ethical lines between his job and his personal interests.
The second investigation is messier, but the allegation is simple – Humphrey was accused of attempting to use his position as a parole officer to run a financial scheme on an intellectually disabled offender he was supervising.
Here’s the full PDF of that investigation. It also includes roughly a hundred additional pages of citizen complaints, personnel records, and other bizarre things about Humphrey.
Basically, in the early 2000s as a DOC parole officer in Atoka County, Humphrey purchased tax-lien certificates on delinquent property owned by an offender he was supervising in an alleged attempt to gain control of the land, which – interestingly enough – he was leasing with his father.
If that sounds shady and scandalous it is, but fortunately, the whole plot unraveled when a landman noticed some strange things in the records:
According to the complaint, Humphrey allegedly tried to trick the offender, who was intellectually disabled, into letting his property go into tax-lien foreclosure – which would have allowed Humphrey to snatch up the land for $10 an acre.
Thanks to the landman tip-off, the family of the alleged victim ultimately paid the back taxes and redeemed the certificates, cockblocking Humphrey from stealing acquiring the land on the cheap. Womp, womp.
Just like the sick-leave scheme, this one was never prosecuted. Humphrey was quietly transferred out of Atoka County, and he never faced criminal charges.
Although the documents we obtained primarily focus on the alleged sick-leave double dip and land-grab scheme, there were other odds and ends in yet another drop of documents that highlight Humphrey’s state government “shenanigans.”
You can read that collection of files below:
We’re not going to unpack every weird rabbit hole, but lowlights – or, “known incidents” – include allegations of violence, campaign violations, more violence, and even involvement with illicit drugs.
Before we hit the publish button on this report, we reached out to the Department of Corrections to confirm the authenticity of the documents in our possession. They acknowledged the files were legit – released in February 2024 as part of an open records request by a local non-profit media outlet.
To our knowledge, the media outlet has never filed a report about any of the allegations outlined in the files. Maybe it got caught in their filter or funnel, who knows.
That being said, one thing we do know is that the leaked documents do a great job making Justin Humphrey look really bad. As a result, we decided to be proper journalists and reach out to Justin to get his take on the files' release.
So far we haven't heard anything back, but he did share this campaign update from the Chicken Shack in Arcadia:
Anyway, we'll update this report – or maybe file a new one – if he responds to our email.
In the meantime, you can read the Humphrey Files and decide for yourself whether this guy has the character to hold any public office, let alone serve as the Lt. Governor of the State of Oklahoma.
Stay with The Lost Ogle, we’ll keep you advised.
