March 13, 2019
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
Things got a little more complicated for Kurt Hamburger recently as prosecutors have added another misdemeanor charge against the Custer County Commissioner.
The second charge, embezzlement of public money, apparently has nothing to do with the misdemeanor charge leveled against the District 2 Commissioner in 2018.
According to a story in the Clinton Daily News, the new charge accuses Hamburger of paying a Weatherford man an overcharge on goods. The story says Hamburger allegedly paid a “30% surplusage or undue profit” for goods that was purchased for the county on four occasions. The total amount of money was stated.
No affidavit has yet been filed with the new charge that was simply added to the first misdemeanor, personal interest of official in transaction. The new charge can be found in online court records under the first charge with case number CM-2018-384.
Court records indicate that the new charge was added last Wednesday and Hamburger was in court on Monday with his attorney for initial arraignment on the amended information.
The Clinton Daily News article says the alleged embezzlement is thought to have happened between January and April of 2016, over two years before the the alleged action of the first misdemeanor.
Hamburger was originally charged in District Court on September 6, 2018 as the result of an investigation regarding what is thought to have been an attempt by Hamburger to do a commissioner in another Oklahoma county a favor.
Authorities believe that Hamburger allegedly profited by $300 as a result of the sale of surplussed county equipment to a Logan County commissioner in May 2017.
The original misdemeanor charge carried with it a penalty of up to one year in jail and/or a $500 fine.
The long investigation loomed over Hamburger for months beginning in August of 2017 and ending with the criminal misdemeanor charge filed a year later in September.
Since that time, Hamburger has been removed from his seat on the Circuit Engineering District 7, also known as CED7, by the remaining board members of the engineering district. He was acting on that board as the Custer County Commissioner’s representative. Commissioner Lyle Miller took Hamburger’s seat on the board.
Jury trial for Hamburger is set for May 30 at 9 am in Custer County District Court in Arapaho.
KECO reached out to Hamburger for comment but he’s not responded to the request as of news time.
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