Police officer fired for disguising an inmate as a deputy to transport prisoners

The deputy was fired back in April

( Susan Chiang/iStockphoto)

A brilliant Oklahoma police officer has been fired for disguising an inmate as a deputy to help him with his duties.

Ted Williams, 45, has been accused of removing an inmate’s restraints and dressing him up in a black windbreaker and sheriff ball cap on April 11. The inmate helped handle detainees at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in Oklahoma City, and at one point, was left unattended, The Associated Press reports. Williams was fired from his post three days later when the inmate told a jail administrator about the incident.

In his termination letter, Garvin County Sheriff Larry Rhodes said his former deputy's actions were "inexcusable."

"I'm embarrassed about it, I'm mad about it, and if I could have stopped it,” Rhodes wrote, according to The Oklahoman. “If I would have been there, I can tell you it wouldn't have happened.”

Sheriff Roades said that two officers are required to transport detainees and said his former deputy was too impatient to wait for the second officer.

No state or federal charges have been filed against the former officer.