LOCAL

Osage County officer indicted by grand jury

Robert Smith
Pawhuska Journal-Capital

A multicounty grand jury has indicted a sergeant with the Osage County Sheriff’s Office for offenses he is alleged to have committed prior to working for Osage County.

An indictment shows that a grand jury charged Michael Shawn Bonin, 45, with two counts – one count of second-degree burglary, and one count of grand larceny. The indictment says Bonin broke into the ammunition storage facility at the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office shooting range and took more than $1,000 of ammunition.

The indictment does not state a specific date for the alleged offenses, instead giving a date range between Sept. 1, 2020 and March 1, 2021.

An online court case outline shows an arrest warrant was issued for Bonin on Jan. 13, 2023. He was arrested by an officer of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and booked at the David L. Moss Criminal Justice Center in Tulsa on Jan. 13, according to a booking record. He was released on a $5,000 bond.

Bonin is a former employee of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office, where he worked for a number of years. He reportedly was a specialist in tracking people.

Bonin is now a sergeant for the Osage County Sheriff’s Office. In a court document related to his case, he is described as “a law enforcement officer assigned as a commander of a SWAT unit with access to firearms and ammunition.”

Osage County Sheriff Eddie Virden told the Journal-Capital in a text message that Deputy Kevin Young is the commander of the county’s SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) team.

The Journal-Capital offered Virden an opportunity to comment on the prosecution of Bonin.

“In reference to Sgt. Bonin’s arrest, we will refrain from making any comment, as it pertains to an incident prior to his employment with our office,” Virden said in a text message. “However Sgt. Bonin has been placed on suspension pending further investigation/outcome of this case.”

Bonin was scheduled for a hearing last Friday in Tulsa County District Court. The prosecution of his case is being handled by the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office.