‘Delete these damn text bc clearly someone reading the mfers’: Deputy harbored fugitive boyfriend at her home and tipped him off to police investigation, prosecutors say

A former sheriff’s deputy in Oklahoma was arrested for harboring her fugitive boyfriend at her home and tipping him off to a police task force investigating him, authorities said.

​Alicia Briones, 34, was arrested on Aug. 6 for harboring Emanuel McClain, who had a warrant out for his arrest in Pottawatomie County, authorities said.

Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth told local NBC affiliate KFOR about the genesis of the case.

“A little while back, we started seeing some inconsistencies, and there were some issues kind of on our radar,” Booth told the outlet. “Sometimes, you know, things happen, there might be a good reason for something, but when red flags go up, you got to check it out.”

“Our suspicions were about things that were going on, was even worse than what we thought as the investigation continued,” he added.

An affidavit spells out the allegations that surfaced in February when investigators learned that Briones and her sister were allegedly assisting in harboring McClain.

The sister allegedly told investigators that Briones gave McClain information about what vehicles undercover agents were driving and their locations. The sister said Briones told McClain that Shawnee police officers were writing a search warrant for a house where McClain had been staying in February.

Investigators said that after they got a search warrant for Briones’ cellphone, they found a string of text messages between her and McClain that showed she had tipped McClain off to a police task force investigating him, the affidavit said.

In one text, on April 9, McClain texted her asking who drives a white Charger, the document said.

“[T]he DA Task Force,” she allegedly responded.

The Task Force had a white Dodge Charger that an investigator had been driving and surveilling McClain then, according to the affidavit.

McClain allegedly texted her on April 10, telling her that a probable cause affidavit and warrant request was filed against him for assault-related allegations.

“I got warrants,” he allegedly wrote.

“They Charged me w two different s—-,” he continued. “Aggravated assault and assault w deadly.”

She allegedly responded, “Huh … I think I seen him come in and get the stuff signed” and “U can beat that especially if he don’t show up to court….”

At one point, she allegedly texted, “Delete these damn text bc clearly someone reading the mfers.”

Authorities said Briones allowed McClain to stay at her residence, supplying him with food, water, hot showers and a place to do his laundry from the time his warrant was issued on April 10 until his arrest on April 30. The affidavit said her home had surveillance cameras that she turned off when McClain was there.

“Lmk when u leave so I can activate my cameras,” she allegedly texted him on April 16, according to the affidavit.

Briones was terminated from the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office on June 25 for an unrelated incident, the document said. She was hired there in 2020, local CBS affiliate KWTV reported. Before that, she was an Oklahoma County Detention Center detention officer, the outlet reported.

She was booked into the Pottawatomie County Jail and released on $250,000 bond, online court records show. She’s set to appear in court on Aug. 21.

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