Preliminary hearing starts for Epic co-founders

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KFOR) – The two co-founders of Epic Charter Schools were in court Monday for a preliminary hearing to determine if the case will go to trial. David Chaney and Ben Harris face 15 felony counts, including embezzlement, money laundering, and racketeering for their alleged role in the misuse of state funds for the charter school.

The first witness to take the stand Monday was OSBI Agent Mark Drummond. He has been the lead investigator on the case since 2020, which State Auditor Cindy Byrd described as the largest abuse of taxpayer dollars in state history. Drummond talked about combing over Epic board meeting minutes as well as tens of thousands of pages of bank records. He said there were at least 100 different bank accounts.

The state wants to prove there was a clear trail of embezzlement and money laundering.

Defense attorneys for Harris and Chaney were given thumb drives of those bank records and asked Judge Jason Glidewell to put those records under a protective order so they would not be made public due to the overwhelming amount of personal information on the documents. Judge Glidwell agreed. The defense also argued the funds involved in the case were pulled out of a “learning fund” which was made up of private dollars, not public funds. However, the state argued that was not true.

The second witness to take the stand was Doug Scott, chairman of the board for Community Strategies, Inc. The non-profit oversaw Epic Charter School as the governing body. He broke down how the school board managed the meetings and agenda items. The state asked questions about how much influence Chaney and Harris had on putting items on the agenda and if the board frequently voted for the co-founder’s ideas.

The preliminary hearing will continue Tuesday, March 26, 2024. The former CFO of Epic Charter School, Josh Brock, also faces the same felony charges but he will be tried separately.