A veteran municipal counselor who spent nearly 30 years working for the City of Oklahoma City says he resigned under duress after sounding the alarm that more than $400,000 in cash seized by the Oklahoma City Police Department was moved into City accounts without proper procedures. The allegation, laid out in a new court filing, challenges civil transfers of so-called unclaimed currency and argues the shift may have short‑circuited safeguards designed to protect victims and cover court-ordered costs.
Jones’ Allegations
According to court documents obtained by FOX 25, former Assistant Municipal Counselor Orval Jones says lists of “unclaimed currency” generated by OKCPD were used to secure civil court orders that shifted more than $400,000 into City accounts. Jones alleges he repeatedly warned supervisors that many entries on those lists were marked “unknown” even though ownership information existed in department records. He also claims the department resisted returning money to some people who had been arrested, even when those individuals had a documented claim.
Audit History Shows Gaps
The dispute unfolds against a backdrop of earlier concerns about how police handle seized property. In a May 2020 investigation, the Office of the City Auditor confirmed that some currency could not be fully accounted for and flagged weaknesses in the Police Department’s Property Management Unit that could leave cash vulnerable to loss or misallocation. Auditors reported that the PMU held roughly $1.4 million in currency across bank and onsite accounts and recommended tighter record-keeping, stronger segregation of duties and clearer rules for how unclaimed funds are processed. Office of the City Auditor
Timeline And The Filing
Jones says the current controversy traces back to January 2025, when a newly promoted supervisor suggested sending OKCPD’s unclaimed-currency lists to the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office for review. According to his filing, the DA’s office told OKCPD it needed criminal case numbers and could not determine ownership from names or incident numbers alone…