# Former Okla. officer concedes violation of policy



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

By DAVID HARPER
Tulsa World (Oklahoma) 
Copyright 2006 The Tulsa World 
But he says he never meant to undermine a police investigation. A former Tulsa police officer acknowledged Wednesday that he violated a department policy forbidding the disclosure of confidential information, but he said he never intended to undermine an investigation. 
Rico Yarbrough's testimony came on the seventh day of his trial in federal court in Tulsa on charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy, witness tampering and illegally giving notice that a search warrant was about to be executed. 
Yarbrough, who resigned from the Tulsa Police Department in April, admitted that on Feb. 10 he sent a message through his friend Christopher Allen Casey to a Broken Arrow man that a search warrant was about to be served at the man's home. 
He told the jury that he has asked himself "a thousand times" since then why he warned the man, whom he said he befriended a few years ago as a result of their mutual involvement in coaching youth football. 
No charges have been filed against the man.

Yarbrough said he believed that the FBI was engaged in a "fishing expedition" to find wrongdoing by the man, even though Yarbrough said he had no knowledge that his friend was doing anything illegal. 
He testified that it was the only time in his 11-year police career that he gave advance notice of a search warrant. 
During cross-examination by U.S. Attorney David O'Meilia, Yarbrough acknowledged a variety of reasons -- including officer safety and possible destruction of evidence -- not to give people advance warning of search warrants. 
But Yarbrough said the execution of any search warrant carries "an element of danger you can't get around." 
O'Meilia showed him a passage from the Tulsa Police Department's Policy and Procedure Manual that says officers are to consider the official business of the department to be confidential. The manual directs that information is not to be shared with others unless "directed by policy and procedure or as prescribed by law." 
Yarbrough admitted Wednesday that he violated that policy. 
As a result of lawfully intercepted phone calls, the jury has heard Yarbrough talking to the Broken Arrow man about the intricacies of federal wiretap laws and FBI investigative deadlines. At one point, Yarbrough was heard advising the man to "dump" his cell phone. 
O'Meilia asked Yarbrough whether he thought it was appropriate for a police officer to "coach" a person who is under investigation or to tell the person not to talk to the police. 
Yarbrough responded that officers inform people of their legal rights every day. 
He also testified that he told FBI Special Agent Matt Lotspeich on Feb. 10 that he would not feel comfortable participating in the execution of the search warrant in Broken Arrow. 
Yarbrough acknowledged that he told Casey on Feb. 17 that police were about to appear at his apartment complex as part of an initiative combatting violent crime. He said he did so because he wanted Casey -- a friend since childhood -- and Casey's 6-year-old son "to stay out of harm's way." 
He said that to his knowledge, Casey has no criminal background. He testified that he knew of other instances in which police warned innocent people of such efforts for their safety. 
Yarbrough said that when he went to Casey's apartment on March 10, he didn't know that Casey was scheduled to testify before a grand jury that was investigating Yarbrough's conduct. 
He said he went there because Casey had not been answering his phone. Yarbrough testified that after Casey told him about his grand jury appointment that morning, he told Casey "to tell the truth; they've got the tapes" of telephone conversations. 
The March 10 encounter forms the basis of the witness-tampering charge against Yarbrough. 
Casey, a prosecution witness, testified Monday that although Yarbrough never told him to lie to investigators, he thought Yarbrough was trying "to plant a seed" of deception. 
Yarbrough's testimony is scheduled to continue Thursday. It appears that the jury will begin deliberating later Thursday or Friday.








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