Top prosecutor in Payne and Logan counties arrested after child pornography investigation
STILLWATER — The first assistant district attorney of Payne and Logan counties was arrested Monday after his apartment was searched as a result of a child pornography investigation.
Kevin Etherington, 53, was being held Tuesday in the Payne County jail on a child pornography complaint and a computer crimes complaint. His bail was set at $500,000.
His boss, District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas, announced after his arrest that he had been fired.
"I cannot express how dismayed and disappointed I am about this development," she said Monday night.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation disclosed the arrest in a news release. The OSBI said agents from its Internet Crimes Against Children unit conducted the search of his Stillwater residence.
In requesting the search, an OSBI agent reported about 153 videos and photos depicting child sexual exploitation were identified within his Google account.
Google notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about "suspected sexual abuse material" linked to Etherington on July 26, the agent reported. The center then forwarded 14 cybertips to the OSBI on Sept. 1, according to the news release.
Etherington had worked as a prosecutor in Logan and Payne counties for eight years.
The district attorney thanked the OSBI "for their diligence in finding these offenders throughout our state, regardless of who they may be."
"Let me be clear that my loyalty is to you, the people I represent in my district, and in upholding the law and protecting our citizens, particularly the most vulnerable of us," she said.
"I personally find the manufacture, distribution and possession of child pornography to be both disgusting and incredibly damaging to individual victims and society. While the accused stands innocent of the alleged crime until proven guilty, my review of the investigation has resulted in this person’s dismissal from employment by my office," she also said.
His defense attorney, Joan Lopez, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Etherington has been fired before.
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater fired him in 2010 after he had an affair with a married co-worker. He, too, was married at the time to a co-worker.
"You are not welcome in the Oklahoma County District Attorney's office and I will have you arrested immediately if you appear at the Downtown DA's Office or the Juvenile DA's Office," Prater told him in a Nov. 4, 2010, email.
His wife filed for divorce three weeks later but dismissed her petition in 2011. She filed for divorce again in 2015, and it was granted.
He was charged in 2017 with larceny from a house after taking vehicle jack stands from his ex-wife's Edmond home. The felony charge was dismissed three months later.
After being charged, he said he was "reclaiming property that was rightfully my own."
"This is a property dispute that has arisen from a divorce and should have been handled as such," he said.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Assistant DA Kevin Etherington arrested after child porn inquiry
