Published: November 25, 2008 10:01 am      

Stipe lawyer lists temporary courthouse in exhibit

A lawsuit pitting McAlester attorney Eddie Harper as guardian for the property of former state Sen. Gene Stipe is seeking more than monetary damages against Stipe’s longtime friend and business associate Steve Covington.

The suit also seeks the return of property which may have been conveyed to Covington or any of the management companies listed as defendants in court documents.

As a result, if Stipe’s representatives prevail, taxpayers in the county could end up paying Stipe $14,633.34 a month to lease one of the buildings in the dispute.

Ironically, it’s the very building where the case could be decided.

Included in a list of property which Harper wants returned is property with the legal description of “Lot 1 & E 9 feet Lot 2 Block 349 SO McAlester 122 and 124 E. Carl Albert Parkway.”

A records check conducted by the News-Capital found that property includes the recently-named Gene and Agnes Stipe Building Complex — which is currently housing Pittsburg County District Court while courthouse renovations are under way.

A lease agreement with Covington signed by Pittsburg County District 3 Commissioner Kevin Smith and District 1 Commissioner Gene Rogers, acting in their capacity as trustees of the Pittsburg County Economic Development Authority, on May 19 is for the same parcel of property, according to records.

The lease agreement lists Premier Property Management Group as the landlord, with Covington’s signature on the document on behalf of Premier.

It calls for Premier to be paid $14,633.34 per month for use of the basement, and the first and second floors of the building “for temporary location of the Pittsburg County Courthouse court system and its employees.”

Premier’s agreement with the commissioners, signed by Covington, lists the property being leased as “ Lot 1 and the Easterly 9 feet of Lot 2 in Block 349 in the city of McAlester, formerly South McAlester.”

The physical address is listed as 122 E. Carl Albert Parkway, with both the legal description and address matching one of the pieces of property Harper is seeking to have returned to Stipe —the building at the corner of Second Street and Carl Albert Parkway.

In addition to Pittsburg County District Court, the building also houses the Pittsburg County Court Clerk offices, the District 18 District Attorney’s offices and the court’s judicial offices.

The lawsuit filed Friday on behalf of Stipe and Harper, in his capacity as the guardian of Stipe’s property, includes a request for a declaratory judgment that Covington and the management companies listed on the suit “have no right, title interest or entitlement to any of the properties listed on plaintiff’s exhibits B and C.”

A legal and physical description of the building at 122 E. Carl Albert Parkway which currently houses the district court offices, is included in Exhibit B.

Also, the lawsuit asks for a court judgment ruling that “any conveyances, deeds, titles or transfers on any of the properties listed on plaintiff’s exhibits B and C ... are void, rescinded and canceled, restoring all right, title and interest in the property to the plaintiff and the guardianship estate.”

In addition to Covington, other defendants listed in the suit are Premier Property Management Group L.L.C., Stipe Management L.L.C., SC Southeast Management Group L.L.C., Southeast Marine & Sport L.L.C. and Loan Plus, Inc.

A firestorm of controversy had erupted last summer when a monument naming the building the Gene and Agnes Stipe Building Complex had been placed on the side of the structure.

A number of people objected because of Stipe’s previous felony convictions. Stipe is currently on five years probation because of his convictions on felony counts of perjury and obstruction related to a Federal Election Commission investigation into illegal campaign contributions to Walt Roberts’ failed 1998 Congressional campaign.

The probation is set to end in January.

Federal prosecutors with Eastern District of Oklahoma U.S. Attorney Sheldon Sperling’s office in Muskogee have attempted to revoke Stipe’s probation, partly because of allegations that Stipe continued to associate with Covington after his probation officer told them to disassociate.

Covington has a federal conviction connected to an odometer rollback scheme.

U.S. District Ron White recently dismissed the petition by federal prosecutors to revoke Stipe’s probation.

White noted that the court had previously found Stipe to be mentally incompetent and he had heard no evidence of sufficient improvement in Stipe’s condition to allow the case to move forward.

The judge said in his order that Stipe, through his attorneys, had essentially admitted having unauthorized contact with Covington and “had the proceedings run their normal course, it’s quite likely a violation would have been found.”

“The likely sentence by the court, somewhere in the four to six-month range, has already been served by the defendant in his stays at the U.S. Medical Center for Prisoners in Springfield, Mo.,” White said in the order.

White had previously ordered Stipe to spend two separate stays in the federal medical center.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.