{"id":30514,"date":"2018-07-17T13:34:38","date_gmt":"2018-07-17T18:34:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=30514"},"modified":"2018-07-17T17:28:41","modified_gmt":"2018-07-17T22:28:41","slug":"investigators-accuse-former-health-department-lawyer-of-emailing-herself-threats-over-medical-marijuana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/07\/17\/investigators-accuse-former-health-department-lawyer-of-emailing-herself-threats-over-medical-marijuana\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigators accuse former health department lawyer of emailing herself threats over medical marijuana"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"DC-embed DC-embed-document DV-container\">\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:128.8571428571429%;height:0;overflow:hidden;max-width:100%;\"> <iframe src=\"\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4608675-oklahoma-v-ezell.html?embed=true&responsive=false&sidebar=false\" title=\"oklahoma v ezell (Hosted by DocumentCloud)\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-forms\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:0;box-sizing:border-box;\"><\/iframe> <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><p>The former lawyer for the Oklahoma State Department of Health faces felony charges accusing her of sending herself threatening emails related to Oklahoma\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/07\/11\/fallin-signs-oklahomas-first-medical-marijuana-rules-including-controversial-amendments-pushed-by-health-leaders\/\">recently adopted<\/a> medical marijuana rules.<\/p><p>Oklahoma County prosecutors filed three separate charges Tuesday against Julie Ezell.\u00a0The <a href=\"http:\/\/www.oscn.net\/dockets\/GetCaseInformation.aspx?db=oklahoma&number=CF-2018-3403&cmid=3676340\">criminal complaint<\/a> accuses Ezell of sending threats to her own government email account earlier this month and reporting the threats to health department investigators.<!--more--><\/p><p>Ezell did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0A spokesperson for Oklahoma State Department of Health declined to comment.<\/p><p>The complaint says Ezell admitted to sending the emails after state investigators examined her cell phone.<\/p><p>One of the emails contained Ezell&#8217;s home address and descriptions of the vehicles she drove,\u00a0according to an affidavit signed by an agent with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Another email stated,\u00a0&#8220;We will expose your corruption and evil. We would hate to hurt a pretty lady. You will hear us. We are just beginning,&#8221; the agent wrote in the affidavit.<\/p><p>Ezell is charged with preparing false evidence, falsely reporting a crime and using a computer to send falsely threatening emails.<\/p><p>Ezell resigned June 13 as general counsel for the state health department, three days after the board of health ignored her legal advice and approved <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/07\/10\/board-of-health-votes-to-require-a-pharmacist-in-medical-marijuana-dispensaries-and-limits-smokable-products\/\">two contentious amendments<\/a> to the state\u2019s first-ever medical marijuana regulations that banned the sale of smokable marijuana and <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/07\/09\/health-leaders-push-the-state-to-adopt-more-restrictive-marijuana-rules\/\">require a pharmacist dispense the drug<\/a>.\u00a0Two groups of Oklahomans have since <a href=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2018\/07\/13\/two-groups-sue-state-over-last-minute-marijuana-regulations\/\">filed lawsuits<\/a> to block implementation of the two amendments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The former lawyer for the Oklahoma State Department of Health faces felony charges accusing her of sending herself threatening emails related to Oklahoma\u2019s recently adopted medical marijuana rules.Oklahoma County prosecutors filed three separate charges Tuesday against Julie Ezell.\u00a0The criminal complaint accuses Ezell of sending threats to her own government email account earlier this month and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":30522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[245,833,834],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30514"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30514"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30524,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30514\/revisions\/30524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}