Gene Stipe and his brother, Francis, indicted

Stipe, (and his) brother indicted
NewsOK.com, October 5, 2007
Tony Thornton

MUSKOGEE A federal grand jury indicted former state Sen. Gene Stipe today, accusing him in part of paying a $48,000 kickback to former state Rep. Mike Mass and then trying to keep Mass from testifying to the grand jury by acquiring the mortgage on Mass' house.

Also indicted was Stipe's brother Francis, who sat on a local board of businessmen that helped obtain several hundred thousand dollars in state and McAlester tax money for a dog food plant built on Stipe's property.

The indictment accuses each of mail fraud, witness tampering and money laundering.

The witness tampering charge alleges the Stipes bought the mortgage on Mass' house to keep him from testifying against them in the grand jury investigation.

Mass, 55, pleaded guilty in April to a conspiracy charge and admitted accepting kickbacks from Stipe's former business partner, Steve Phipps. Mass admitted earmarking money to a foundation formed by Phipps, who then used the money for two businesses: National Pet Products, the dog food plant, and Indian Nation Entertainment, a gambling machine company.

Mass, who will be sentenced Oct. 18, faces up to five years in prison. Phipps also has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and awaits sentencing.

Today's indictment alleges Gene Stipe was part-owner of National Pet products. He claims Phipps embezzled money from a company they owned and secretly put it into the dog food plant without Gene Stipe's knowledge.

Gene Stipe, 80, has been acquitted in three previous federal indictments. However, he pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2003 in a campaign fraud scandal.

Stipe spent more than a half-century at the state Capitol and is widely considered one of the most powerful political figures in Oklahoma history.

It is unclear what impact the new indictment will have on prosecutors' efforts to revoke Stipe's probation.

Stipe recently underwent testing in a prison hospital in Springfield, Mo., to determine whether he is mentally competent to face the revocation proceedings. U.S. District Judge Ronald White has set a competency hearing for Oct. 15. If Stipe is deemed competent, the revocation hearing will proceed immediately thereafter.

He is on probation until 2009 after pleading guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges related to more than $245,000 in illegal contributions to the failed congressional campaign of Walt Roberts in 1998.

The petition to revoke Stipe's probation alleges he orchestrated a similar illegal campaign contribution scheme while on house arrest and defied a probation officer's order by associating with another convicted felon, business associate Steve Covington.

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