Sunday: Parole officers manage extensive caseloads
BY CARY ASPINWALL World
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Last fall, Probation and Parole Officer Robert Humphrey was supervising about 150 offenders on parole in the Tulsa area.
One of those was Cedric Dwayne Poore, now jailed on allegations that he was involved in the January execution-style slayings of four women in the Fairmont Terrace apartment complex.
Assuming a 40-hour average work week, a caseload of nearly 150 offenders left Humphrey just over an hour per offender in October, when Poore was convicted of a misdemeanor.
Shortly after that conviction, Humphrey began submitting a report to his supervisors to determine whether Poore’s parole should be revoked, a process that ultimately took two months in the Department of Corrections system that uses paper records mailed between offices.
For the type of misdemeanor Poore was convicted of, a decision to revoke his parole is not automatic, he said.
“We don’t really request a warrant for many misdemeanors,” Humphrey said. “It was kind of like a freak incident, it involved an argument over his daughter. It wasn’t a life-threatening issue.”
A police report for Poore’s April 2012 arrest states that he threatened to assault someone, saying, “Just wait, my people will be here to take care of all of you all.” Poore pleaded guilty to obstructing an officer in October 2012.
Humprey began writing the report on Poore’s parole violation a few weeks after his conviction, talked it over with his supervisors and submitted it for their approval. Once finalized, the Tulsa District office submitted the report by mail on Dec. 11 to the state parole administrator in Oklahoma City. That office ultimately decided to issue a warrant revoking Poore’s parole on Dec. 28.
On Jan. 7, Misty Nunley, 33; Julie Jackson, 55; and 23-year-old twin sisters Rebeika Powell and Kayetie Powell Melchor were shot to death at Fairmont Terrace, a federally subsidized apartment complex near 61st Street and Peoria Avenue.
On Jan. 14, Poore reported to the Tulsa County District probation and parole office for his monthly check in with Humphrey, where he was arrested on the warrant to revoke his parole —for the October misdemeanor conviction.
Read more in Sunday's World.
Associated Images:
Parole officers Robert Humphrey and Venetta Douglas finish a location check at a house where a parolee will stay after getting out of jail. Humphrey supervises about 150 offenders in the Tulsa area. STEPHEN PINGRY/Tulsa World
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