BYLINE: Matt Dinger
Bethany, OK
Jack Ronald Jencks, a Bethany police captain, was reinstated on the force with back pay and benefits, according to an arbitration decision released Monday.
Bethany police Capt. Jack Ronald Jencks glances at his attorney while sitting in the courtroom for a preliminary hearing May 23 at Oklahoma County District Court. On Monday, an arbitrator ruled Jencks should be reinstated to the police force. He was fired after being accused of taking prescription narcotics and other drugs from boxes and envelopes kept in the Bethany Police Department’s property room. A judge ordered he should stand trial on the drug theft charges, but the arbitrator found there was no evidence Jencks stole the evidence. OKLAHOMAN ARCHIVE PHOTO BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND
BETHANY — A police captain accused of stealing prescription drugs schedule for destruction from the Bethany Police Department evidence room has been reinstated with full back pay.
Jack Ronald Jencks, 57, will receive full back pay, including retroactive employee benefit coverage, according to an arbitration decision released Monday.
Jencks had been charged in Oklahoma County District Court with 10 counts of larceny of a controlled dangerous substance. Tuesday, an additional count was added. Jencks is now also accused of stealing approximately 100 hydrocodone pills, according to court records.
The Bethany police captain was a lead detective in the initial, botched investigation into the death of Carina Saunders. That investigation was handed over to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. The case remains unsolved. Jencks was first charged in February; he was fired from the Bethany Police Department last summer.
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