A former deputy in Oklahoma has been arrested for harboring a fugitive with whom she had a romantic relationship, tipping him off about the movements of a task force searching for him, according to reports.
Alicia Briones, 34, a former Pottawatomie County sheriff's deputy, was arrested on Aug. 6 following a months' long investigation for harboring Emanuel McClain at her home, KFOR reported.
Sheriff Mike Booth said there were suspicions about Briones even before the investigation began.
"A little while back we started seeing some inconsistencies and there were some issues kind of on our radar," Booth told the station. "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 continued.
According to the affidavit for her arrest, the probe began in February under the belief that Briones and her sister, Miranda, were protecting McClain.
In May, Miranda was taken into custody in another county in Oklahoma for a felony warrant and she gave authorities consent to search her cell phone.
"Miranda states Alicia had given McClain information about what vehicles undercover agents were currently driving as well as investigators locations," the court document said.
Briones also informed McClain about how Shawnee Police officers were writing a search warrant for a house he was staying at in February.
Officers got a search warrant for Briones' phone and found more than a thousand text messages between her and McClain going back to December 2023.
There were also multiple photos of McClain on the phone.
In one message, from April 2024, McClain asked Briones who drove a white Charger. "Alicia responds back by telling McClain 'the DA Task Force," which was operating surveillance on him at the time.
Briones is being held in the Pottawatomie County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
