September 13, 2018
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
A several month-long investigation has ended in a misdemeanor charge against a Custer County Commissioner.
District 2 Commissioner Kurt Hamburger has been charged with “personal interest of official in transaction,” the result of the investigation thought to have started as an attempt to do another county commissioner a favor, a commissioner in a different Oklahoma county.
According to a story in the Clinton Daily News, the misdemeanor charge carries with it a penalty of up to one year in jail and/or a $500 fine.
Hamburger, who didn’t respond to a text message from Paragon Communications for a comment, owns a company, H&H Salvage of Weatherford.
Several months ago, it was through this company that Hamburger allegedly made a profit $300 after buying a brush hog that Custer County Commissioners had previously declared surplus property at Hamburger’s request. The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation says, after investigating the matter, Hamburger bought the piece of equipment at auction for $82-hundred dollars and sold it to Logan County for $85-hundred dollars.
The story in the Clinton Daily News says that Hamburger didn’t deny that he made the transaction, but it got more complicated when his fellow commissioner in Logan County couldn’t get an account set up fast enough to buy it directly, himself, through the auction. Hamburger later told an OSBI agent that he, Hamburger, later deposited the $300 profit into his district’s petty cash fund. The crime allegedly occurred when OSBI couldn’t find documentation that the deposit of $300 was made.
Hamburger’s company bought the mower at auction for $82-hundred dollars and Logan County Commissioner Marven Goodman allegedly told Hamburger to bill Logan County for $85-hundred dollars.
The long investigation has been looming over Hamburger like a cloud for months while he’s served as commissioner. At least that part is over.
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