OKMULGEE – Richard Larabee, former Okmulgee Mayor, was sentenced May 31 in Okmulgee County district court.
After entering a guilty plea earlier this year, Judge Pandee Ramirez sentenced Larabee to eight years each on two counts of embezzlement. The sentences are running consecutively, with all suspended except for one year of custody.
He has also been ordered to repay $186,193.90 in restitution following his release.
In 2019-2020, Larabee, 38, briefly served as a consultant to the Eufaula Area Chamber of Commerce and wrote a weekly column for the Eufaula Indian Journal.
In Okmulgee, Larabee was accused of spending more than $150,000 while managing the Mc-Culloch Building and about $35,000 while serving as chairman of the board for Agape Pregnancy Center ‘s Okmulgee location.
The allegations first surfaced in Feb. 2022, and Larabee resigned as mayor of Okmulgee a week later. Then Okmulgee Police Chief Joe Prentice referred the case to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
Larabee, 35, was elected to the Okmulgee City Council in 2018 and was appointed vicemayor in 2019. In 2020, incumbent Okmulgee Mayor Steven Baldridge stepped down, and Larabee automatically assumed the position for the remainder of the term, which ends this year.
