OKLAHOMA CITY -
The owner of an upscale Oklahoma City restaurant is
indicted for lying to a Grand jury during an investigation into Oklahoma County
DA David Prater.
Prater has been cleared of all wrongdoing. Now
one of the men who made the allegations could go to prison.
Wade Starr, part owner of Cafe Nova and Deep Fork
Grill, is now facing three counts of perjury after a grand jury found he signed
a false affidavit and lied to jurors during their investigation.
Read the
indictment against Wade Starr
The grand jury investigation centered around a victory
party for Prater held at Cafe Nova on November 20, 2006. Jurors
were investigating allegations that attorney L.B. Moon paid for the party in an
illegal, excessive campaign contribution and in exchange Prater showed Moon
favoritism in a criminal case.
I guess I'm surprised to the extent that some people
will go if they want to harm their enemy," Prater told News 9 on
Wednesday.
The grand jury report says three attorneys, which
Prater identifies as Irven Box, Joe Reynolds, and Michael Johnson, worked
together to write the false affidavit that said Moon paid for the party and
then presented the affidavit to Starr for his signature.
"It was personal, it was very personal," said Prater.
Prater says he believes the attorneys made the
allegations after three high profile cases: Jerome Ersland, and Tammy
Bass-LeSure and Terrell/ Leftwich didn't go their way.
6/15/2012
Related Story: Multicounty Grand Jury Clears Oklahoma County DA Of Allegations
Of Campaign Violations
None of the attorneys have been charged with any
crimes, but Prater is hoping the bar association takes action.
"These are all lawyers that falsified this information
and then testified unusually before the multi-county grand jury," said Prater.
Box told News 9, he can't talk about the grand jury
findings for six months, but his position had nothing to do with the Ersland
case.
Reynolds
has since passed away, and Johnson told us the grand jury report shows he
cooperated with the investigation in a way that helped Prater.
Starr meanwhile pleaded not guilty to the charges. Neither
he nor his attorney had any comment as they left the courtroom.