COWETA, Okla. — Coweta Police Chief Mike Bell released results from his investigation into city leadership on Monday. The probe began when residents questioned how officials handled a controversial data center project that was later scrapped.
Chief Bell used the word, "unsubstantiated," when describing citizen allegations involving the Coweta City Council and City Manager Julie Casteen.
WATCH: 'Unsubstantiated': Coweta investigation results reveal no criminal findings
"The evidence did not support the findings that state law, criminal statutes or applicable regulations have been violated," Bell said.
2 News heard many complaints this year—mostly stemming from the Project Atlas data center project —which developers later pulled.
“It is time. Now. For this city council to do the right thing. They can. The only thing it can do, to redeem itself. Fire Julie Casteen for cause,” neighbor Allen Prather said on April 6.
"Is this just an honor system where y'all can respond when you want to and ignore us when you choose?" said neighbor David Seales, on May 4.
The council authorized Bell to begin a formal investigation on May 4.
The allegations raised by the public included:
-Real estate activities and licensing compliance.
-The use of non-disclosure agreements and open records compliance.
-Bribery and/or illegal transactions.
-Misappropriating public funds.
-Conduct that could discredit the city.
2 News Oklahoma's Erin Christy submitted an open records request for all the emails sent to the Coweta City Council and City Manager regarding complaints related to the data center project - and received them on June 17. Many of the records were duplicates, and names were redacted.
While Chief Bell made clear there's been no instances of criminal violations, Casteen did admit to signing a non-disclosure agreement involving the data center project in 2024.
"This is something we'd typically do on a normal basis. this is a different situation, Casteen said. "i think Coweta was a guinea pig in this regard -- where we are the first ones presented with this. At the time, it seemed like a normal, standard thing. Turns out it wasn't."
The information disclosed at Monday's meeting will be added to the Coweta City Council's special meeting agenda on Tuesday.
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