EP 10: Florene Mathis ALLEGATIONS
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Official Police, and Private Investigator Reports/Notes (redacted) Below:
360° photo taken by private investigator Brian Bates:
Below is a photo of the location where Daniel Holtzclaw stopped Florene Mathis on the date she was allegedly sexually assaulted. Mathis claims the location was several blocks away. GPS records show the stop happened directly behind accuser Tabitha Barnes’ home.
Bates Investigates
Episode 10 ׀Daniel Holtzclaw: Florene Mathis Allegations
[OPENING MUSIC]
Disclaimer: This podcast deals with adult subject matter, including depictions of drug addiction, prostitution, sexual assault, and rape. Parental guidance is suggested.
00:37[OPENING AUDIO COLLAGE]
Newscaster: Officer Daniel Holtzclaw, with the Police Department for three years, is accused of raping and sexually assaulting women he pulled over while on the job.
Jannie Liggons: He said, ‘Come on, come on, just a minute, just a minute’. I say, ‘Sir, I can’t do this’. I say, ‘you gonna shoot...’
Det. Kim Davis: Tell me your description of him.
Sherri Ellis: He’s black.
Det. Kim Davis: He’s b—okay, black male.
Det. Kim Davis: What did your daughter tell you?
Amanda Gates: She said, ‘I met this really hot cop’.
Shardayreon Hill: So, this is good evidence?
Det. Rocky Gregory: Well, you tell me.
[OPENING AUDIO COLLAGE ENDS]
Timestamp: The following episode contains investigative events which occurred on August 13, 2014.
01:25
Host: Welcome back to Bates Investigates - Season One - episode ten. I am your host, licensed Private Investigator, Brian Bates, and I am breaking down the case of the State of Oklahoma vs. Daniel Holtzclaw. As a member of Daniel Holtzclaw’s jury trial criminal defense team, I am presenting this serialized podcast from the perspective of the prosecution, but with the scrutiny of the defense. In the investigative timeline, it’s August 13, 2014, and Detective Rocky Gregory is pouring over a stack of papers detailing everyone Officer Daniel Holtzclaw had run through the police department’s databases in the last few months. You’ll recall, it was in episode nine that accuser Sherry Ellis’ name stood out because she had been run through the Varuna databases numerous times over the course of three shifts. On this morning, another name stands out. Just a quick side note, because this person ends up having very little significance to this case, I’m only going to refer to her as Shannon—which is not her real name. According to the printouts, Holtzclaw ran Shannon’s name multiple times. Detective Gregory utilized the same law enforcement databases to obtain a telephone number and personal identifying information for Shannon and gave her a call. The following information comes directly from Detective Gregory’s official investigative police report. The first thing that stood out to me when I read this report was that the telephone call with Shannon was allegedly not audio recorded. Yet, when Ellis was identified as a possible victim of Daniel Holtzclaw’s because of the same suspicious name inquiries, her initial telephone contact was audio recorded.
3:24
Additionally, according to Detective Gregory’s report, he started the telephone conversation with Shannon, by stating, “I introduced myself and I asked [Shannon] if she had ever had any problems with an officer.” You’ll recall that when Sherry Ellis was contacted, she was told that police had a tip that she had been sexually assaulted by an Oklahoma City Police officer—a statement so inappropriate that even she denied it at trial. Both women were flagged because they had been queried by Holtzclaw multiple times, yet only one was recorded, and that same woman was the only one told up front that police believed she was the victim of a sexual assault by a police officer. The only difference I could find is the fact that thirty-nine year old Ellis is a black female with a criminal history who resided on the Northeast side of Oklahoma City. While Shannon, the one who wasn’t recorded and wasn’t told they thought she’d been sexually assaulted, was a twenty-three year old white, female, professional bikini fitness model, who resided in Edmond, an upscale suburb of Oklahoma City. Regardless, Shannon responded to Detective Gregory’s question with, “She said she really hadn’t, but her friend, Daniel Holtzclaw, is in trouble for supposedly messing with girls.” She went on to say that she didn’t know any details about the allegations, but that she met Holtzclaw because they were both on the same body building team at a gym in Northwest Oklahoma City. Shannon explained to Detective Gregory that she dated Holtzclaw in January and February of 2014. She said it was a physical relationship and that she considered Holtzclaw’s sex drive to be pretty normal and that they had sex about every other day. Shannon was specifically asked if they used condoms, or if Holtzclaw ever asked for anything unusual during sex, or made her uncomfortable. She replied that they did not use condoms, and that she never had any issues with Holtzclaw.
5:35
Shannon went on to state that she has no problem with Holtzclaw and that they still compete on the same body building team. However, when asked, Shannon did verify that she has never had any contact with Holtzclaw as a police officer and that he had no official purpose to run her information through the police department’s databases. Shannon ended the call by giving the name of another female fitness model on their team that had had a longer dating relationship with Holtzclaw. I couldn’t find any information that Detective Gregory or Davis contacted that individual. I’m not going to dwell on this because its significance is very debatable, but a handful of Holtzclaw’s past girlfriends were contacted during this investigation, and Holtzclaw definitely had a type. All were extremely attractive, very into working out, and took that passion to a higher level by either competing and/or working as fitness models. Holtzclaw also dated women of different ethnicities. When interview by investigators, none had anything negative to say about him. Regardless, while Detective Gregory was seeking out bikini models to interview, Detective Kim Davis began her day and her next investigative report with the same opening line she would use time and time again: “Lieutenant Muzny gave me a list of several females that he wanted contacted because they could be possible victims of Officer Holtzclaw. When he gave me the list, we had still not found a match to the unidentified female DNA found on Officer Holtzclaw’s pants.” One of the names on that list was fifty-three year old, Florene Mathis. When Detective Davis searched the police database, she learned that Mathis was currently being held in the Oklahoma County Jail on a charge of Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon. Detective Davis and Homan drove to the Oklahoma County Jail, had Florene Mathis pulled from her cell, and then escorted to an interview room. The following is the audio from that interview.
07:49[RECORDING BEGINS]
[VOICES IN BACKGROUND]
Host: This original interview is about twenty-five minutes long. The audio is fairly poor and Mathis’ answers are often not audible. For those reasons, I have edited this audio for time and quality. You can watch and listen to the unedited video at this episode’s homepage on holtclawtrial.com, or on the Bates Investigates YouTube channel for season one.
Det. Kim Davis: I’m Detective Davis. Kim Davis. My partner, Detective Homan. We… how come you’re in here? Just out of curiosity.
Florene Mathis: For Assault and Battery with, uh, a Dangerous Weapon.
Det. Kim Davis: Oh, did you kick somebody’s ass? [laughing] Okay, here’s—we’re not here about that. We’re not working that case or anything. Uh, we received a—we work in Sex Crimes, okay? And we received a tip, we’re in the middle of an investigation and during that investigation a tip came across that you may have been sexually assaulted by an Oklahoma City Police officer. [long pause] Get a chair. Do you want a Kleenex? [loud bang]
Florene Mathis: I don’t even remember what day it was.
Det. Kim Davis: Doesn’t matter. [long pause] We’d like to talk to you about that. And we’ll take as much time as you need. I’m gonna take some notes, if you don’t care. Do you remember—can I ask some questions? Are you ready? Do you remember what month it was?
Florene Mathis: No.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. I—I’m gonna ask you a question and I don’t mean this in a bad way, and I’m not judging or anything… were you, like, were you on drugs that day? Okay. That—that’s fine. What were you, what were you using that day?
Florene Mathis: Crack.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay.
Florene Mathis: [inaudible] had been drinking, so I couldn’t…
09:50
Det. Valari Homan: What side of town?
Florene Mathis: Uh, the East side.
Det. Kim Davis: Do you remember, like, were you driving or were you walking? How did you come in contact with him?
Florene Mathis: I was walking.
Det. Kim Davis: Do you remember where—what street you were walking on?
Florene Mathis: Uh, I don’t know. I had just left, like, Sixteenth and Jordan.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay, and where did you get stopped?
Florene Mathis: Uh, like, Seventeenth or Eighteenth, and, like, Kate. Over—it was close to a park.
Det. Kim Davis: What time of day was it?
Florene Mathis: It was, like, six or seven in the evening.
Det. Kim Davis: In the evening. Okay, tell me this—it will help me time of year—was it dark or was it still light?
Florene Mathis: It was kinda dark.
Det. Kim Davis: What were you wearing, to tell me the weather?
Florene Mathis: Uh, I know I had on some jeans. I had on some black jeans. And, I can’t remember what—I know I had on, like, uh, a tank top, with a jacket on.
Det. Kim Davis: What kind of jacket? Like a coat? Or like a…
Florene Mathis: It was, like, a…
Det. Kim Davis: Sweatshirt type of jacket or something else?
Florene Mathis: It was one of the, uh, flannel hoodies jackets.
11:05
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. Tell me a little bit. T—y—you tell me, you left Sixteenth and Jordan. Is that where you were smoking and drinking? Okay. And you start walking. Were you walking alone?
Florene Mathis: Mm hmm.
Det. Kim Davis: Tell me how you got approached.
Florene Mathis: Um…
Det. Kim Davis: Did he come from behind you, from the side of you, or from directly straight on?
Florene Mathis: It was from behind me.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay.
Florene Mathis: He stopped to ask me if I had ID.
Det. Kim Davis: Did he get out of the car to ask you that?
Florene Mathis: Yes.
Det. Kim Davis: Tell me wh—what happened next?
Florene Mathis: He ran a check and I came back clear.
Det. Kim Davis: Did he run a check over the radio or over his computer or do you know?
Florene Mathis: I don’t know. I don’t remember.
Det. Kim Davis: Now, when he’s running you are you standing outside of the car? Are you sitting in the car?
Florene Mathis: He had me sitting on the curb.
Det. Kim Davis: Did he get back into the car to run you?
Florene Mathis: Yes.
Det. Kim Davis: Are you on his driver’s side or passenger’s side…
Florene Mathis: Passenger side.
Det. Kim Davis: When you’re sitting on the ca—curb? Then what happened.
Florene Mathis: And he started asking me about other girls that was, uh, working girls and stuff that was around through that area. If I knew any of them, and, um…
Det. Kim Davis: Did he call them working girls?
Florene Mathis: No, he just, he said, ‘Are there any,’ uh…
Det. Kim Davis: Was he out of the car?
Florene Mathis: He more or less pertained it like I was out there working and I told him I wasn’t, I was on my way home.
Det. Kim Davis: Was he out of the car when he was doing this?
Florene Mathis: Yes. I said…
Det. Kim Davis: Have you ever been a working girl before?
Florene Mathis: Years ago.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. Go ahead.
Florene Mathis: And, uh, I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about and he said something about with me always being in that area that I knew what was going on and stuff like that with the dope houses and the working girls.
Det. Valari Homan: Where’s he standing? Or sitting?
Florene Mathis: He’s standing right in front of me.
Det. Kim Davis: So you guys are kind of face to face like this while you’re having this conversation?
Det. Valari Homan: But you’re still in the backseat of the patrol car?
13:20
Florene Mathis: No, I was outside of the car. I was sitting on the curb.
Det. Valari Homan: Oh, okay.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. Go ahead.
Florene Mathis: Um.
Det. Kim Davis: He’s telling you that he kno—you should know the area and the working girls and the dope houses.
Florene Mathis: Yeah. And I told him I didn’t know what he was talking about. And, and he was, like, ‘Well, if I sear—have a female officer come search you, would you have anything on you illegal?’ And stuff. And I told him no.
Det. Kim Davis: Was that the truth?
Florene Mathis: Yes. I remember him telling me, um, telling me I could get up. When I got up, he was trying to help me. I told him I could get up by myself.
Det. Kim Davis: How was he trying to help?
Florene Mathis: Reach out to pull my hand to pull me up. And I snatched my hand back cause I’ve had surgery on my left hand. Um…
Det. Kim Davis: Did he ever touch your left hand?
Florene Mathis: Yes.
Det. Kim Davis: Did it hurt?
Florene Mathis: Yes.
Det. Kim Davis: Did he touch it too hard or just did it hurt…
Florene Mathis: [inaudible]
Det. Kim Davis: Cause you had surgery?
Florene Mathis: Cause I had had surgery.
Det. Kim Davis: So, now you’re standing. Was this whole conversation before that you were sitting and he was standing?
Florene Mathis: Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis: So, now you’re both standing and facing each other.
Florene Mathis: Yes.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay.
Florene Mathis: The only thing else I can remember is him trying to fondle my breasts.
Det. Valari Homan: When during the contact did that happen?
Florene Mathis: After I had stood up.
Det. Kim Davis: Are ya’ll, like, still on the curb area or are you in front of the scout car or…
Florene Mathis: I was sitting on the curb and I get up and he’s right here leaning up toward this passenger door.
Det. Kim Davis: Did he just reach out and fondle or was he searching you or did he just reach out and grab you?
Florene Mathis: [whispered] I don’t remember.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. Is that because you were high? Now, when you say you remember him trying to fondle your breasts, did he ever touch em? On top of your clothes or underneath your clothes?
15:22
Florene Mathis: Top.
Det. Kim Davis: Do you remember what made him stop?
Florene Mathis: Um, a car, or somebody came out of their house, or something. Um…
Det. Kim Davis: Did he say anything when he touched your breasts?
Florene Mathis: No.
Det. Kim Davis: Did you say anything?
Florene Mathis: I just told him to let me go.
Det. Kim Davis: What’d he say when you told him that?
Florene Mathis: I just remember walking across the park.
Det. Kim Davis: Is that kinda by your house?
Florene Mathis: Yes, in the opposite direction.
Det. Valari Homan: Where you live?
Florene Mathis: I was staying on Eighteenth and Everest at the time.
Det. Kim Davis: S—Eighteenth and what?
Florene Mathis: Everest.
Det. Kim Davis: Where do you live now?
Florene Mathis: Nowhere. [laughing]
Det. Kim Davis: You don’t have an addr—have they filed charges on you? In he—like, w—where you going when you get out of here, are you going to prison?
Florene Mathis: I don’t know.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. But you don’t…
Florene Mathis: I’m waiting to go to trial.
Det. Kim Davis: Hmm?
Florene Mathis: I’m waiting to go to trial.
Det. Kim Davis: Did he ever try to touch your vagina or your bottom?
Florene Mathis: Unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis: Did he ever try to get you touch him?
Florene Mathis: [sob] I don’t remember.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. That’s okay. Did—when you walked across the park, did he just drive away? From that point on to—when did you get arrested and come in here?
Florene Mathis: Um, on the eighth.
Det. Kim Davis: Of what?
Florene Mathis: Januar—uh, July.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. Between the time that he did this and July 8thhave you seen him again?
Florene Mathis: Not that I remember.
Det. Kim Davis: You never saw him again?
Det. Valari Homan: How much time had passed do you think from the time this happened to when you got picked up and brought in here?
Florene Mathis: I don’t remember. I’ve been trying to keep it blocked out.
Det. Kim Davis: Give me a description of him. White male, black male, Indian male, Mexican male?
Florene Mathis: He could have been His—part Hispanic and white, I don’t…
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. [banging noises]
17:37
Florene Mathis: I know he was real muscular.
Det. Kim Davis: Did you notice a name tag? Okay. How tall was he? And you don’t have to be perfect, just kinda…
Florene Mathis: Bout… probably about five ten.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. How much did he weigh?
Florene Mathis: Bout… probably about two something.
Det. Kim Davis: And when you say real muscular, like, work-out muscular or just a big guy?
Florene Mathis: Muscular.
Det. Kim Davis: Muscular, okay. Um, did he wear glasses? Did he have facial hair?
Florene Mathis: No, he didn’t have facial hair.
Det. Kim Davis: If you, um, saw him again could you pick him out of—like, if I showed you six pictures of police officers would you be able to pick him out?
Florene Mathis: [inaudible]
Det. Kim Davis: When he stopped you did he turn his lights—the overhead lights on or anything?
Florene Mathis: Yes.
Det. Kim Davis: He did? Were they on the whole time ya’ll were talking?
Florene Mathis: No.
Det. Kim Davis: D—did he turn em off when he was running you? Anything else you can think about? What color was his hair?
Florene Mathis: Uh, it’s either dark brown or black. Had, like, a little slight gray.
Det. Kim Davis: Can you think of anything else about him that describes him?
Florene Mathis: Just, uh, the new—the police car was one of the new ones.
Det. Kim Davis: The…
Florene Mathis: The new black and whites?
Det. Kim Davis: Like, where it’s all black except the letters?
Florene Mathis: Yeah.
Det. Valari Homan: Had you ever seen him before this time?
Florene Mathis: Yeah, he stopped me before, when I was working.
Det. Kim Davis: As a prostitute?
Florene Mathis: No.
Det. Kim Davis: Working what? What do you mean?
Florene Mathis: I was doing Make Ready on Sixteenth and Jordan.
Det. Kim Davis: What’s Make Ready?
Florene Mathis: It’s, uh, remodeling.
Det. Valari Homan: How long before this contact was that contact?
Florene Mathis: I don’t know. Back in like, it was around March or April.
Det. Kim Davis: Of 2014?
Det. Valari Homan: Is that…
Det. Kim Davis: Did he run you that time? Did he do anything to you that time? So, the time that he touched your breasts was after March or April of 2014.
19:53
Det. Valari Homan: What about—anything before that time?
Florene Mathis: I think there was another time that he had stopped me around probably December or January. And that was, like, on Eighteenth.
Det. Kim Davis: Eighteenth and what?
Florene Mathis: Um, right around Fonshill. I mean, not F—Fonshill, uh, Stonewall. [inaudible]
Det. Kim Davis: Did he run you that time?
Florene Mathis: Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis: Are all these times, are you on foot?
Florene Mathis: Mm hmm.
Det. Valari Homan: Starting—so is this gonna be the first time you’ve ever come in contact with him?
Florene Mathis: Mm hmm.
Det. Valari Homan: So, from that time to the last time was it ever discussed about hey I see you around or anything?
Florene Mathis: Unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis: And he ran you that time—the first time, and the second time, and the third time you and you came back clear every time?
Florene Mathis: Well the, uh, one time—the last two times, I had warrants and he told me to take care of them. And I was taking—trying to take care of them, paying a, a little money at a time.
Det. Kim Davis: So, the second and third time, and the third time being the time he touched your breasts, you had warrants?
Florene Mathis: Mm hmm.
Det. Kim Davis: What were the warrants for?
Florene Mathis: Uh, they were, uh, City warrants. Uh, Failure to Appear, and, uh, not paying my, uh, tickets.
Det. Kim Davis: Failure to Appear and not paying tickets. And he just told you take care of them.
Florene Mathis: Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis: But only one time he did something to you? You didn’t tell anybody?
Florene Mathis: No.
Det. Kim Davis: How come?
Florene Mathis: I didn’t really have anybody to tell.
Det. Kim Davis: W—why didn’t—cause this will get asked, how come you didn’t tell the police?
Florene Mathis: I just tried to forget about it.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay. And that’s fine. Any of these times, one, two, or three, did he ever search you and put you in the back of the car?
21:56
Florene Mathis: There was one time he put me in the back of the car and I think that was the first time he stopped me. Cause he had, uh, a female come up and, uh, search me.
Det. Kim Davis: So, the second and third time, he didn’t put you in the back of the car? And he didn’t search you? Okay.
Det. Valari Homan: How old are you?
Florene Mathis: Fifty-three.
Det. Valari Homan: There’s gonna be a lot of questions asked—it—cause we have to answer some to the District Attorney’s office, and you—you’re very young looking and you—you’ve got a great memory, that’s obvious, cause all the information that you’ve given us. Did you give us everything?
Florene Mathis: That I can remember, yes.
Det. Kim Davis: That night, did you—would you classify yourself, were you drunk?
Florene Mathis: Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis: Were you high?
Florene Mathis: Yeah.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay.
Florene Mathis: I had been smoking crack and drinking.
Det. Kim Davis: Okay.
Det. Valari Homan: Does it cause you to ever black out though?
Florene Mathis: Yes.
Det. Valari Homan: Or hallucinate?
Florene Mathis: No, not to hallucinate. I black out.
Det. Valari Homan: Well, we’re very sorry for, um, something you’ve come up against.
Det. Kim Davis: It’s…
Det. Valari Homan: And we’re gonna…
Det. Kim Davis: It’s embarrassing for us that we have to come ask you these questions and tell you when a police officer did that you. We’re—we’re embarrassed. Cause we’re police officers. But I don’t want you to think that, I mean, a lot of people say brothers in blue, if he’s out there doing that, unh uh. It’s not right. It’s not appropriate. It’s against the law. And we won’t put up with it. And we want you to know that we won’t put up with it. [pause] Do you know anybody else that this—I know you didn’t tell me, but it—have you heard, out on the street or anything of an officer assaulting women? [pause] Haven’t heard anybody say anything else about it? [pause] Do you have any questions?
Florene Mathis: Unh uh.
Det. Kim Davis: Something’s gonna be done about this, okay? We’re not gonna put up with it.
[RECORDING ENDS]
24:08
Host: The edited video you just listened to is posted in its entirety on this episode’s homepage at holtzclawtrial.com. You can also find a link to the video in this episode’s show notes by swiping or tapping on the cover art displayed on your smart device. Honestly, at first glance, there’s not a lot to this interview. I do, however, want to point out that Detective Davis takes some liberties when she claims in her official investigative report, that when she asked Mathis if she was ever sexually assaulted by a police officer, Mathis “immediately dropped her head and started crying”. You can watch the video for yourself. There is zero evidence that Mathis is doing anything other than lowering her head and pausing as she gathers her thoughts. There are no audible sobs, nor shedding or wiping of tears. Regardless, Florene Mathis, who is known to go by numerous aliases, claims that while she was out walking and under the influence of crack cocaine and alcohol, she came into contact with Patrol Officer Daniel Holtzclaw. She claims this was the third time that he had stopped her, and that during one encounter there was also a female officer on scene. For most of the contact in question, Mathis says she was seated on the curb and that Holtzclaw was outside his patrol car standing next to her. Mathis claims that nothing inappropriate occurred until she went to stand up. At that point, Officer Holtzclaw offered his hand to help her. Mathis said she had previously had surgery on her left hand and that Holtzclaw’s grip caused her some pain, so she pulled her hand away and said she could get up on her own. Mathis is fairly vague on what happened next, but generalized that Hotlzclaw briefly fondled her breasts on top of her clothes as she got up off the curb. She claims that he stopped because either a car drove by or someone came out of her house—she can’t remember which. Mathis said the interaction with Holtzclaw ended about that time, and she simply walked away. She stated that since that encounter she hasn’t told anyone and simply was trying to put it behind her.
26:28
While some may be tempted to dismiss this incident as nothing more than a she said, he said, there are a handful of details worth mentioning that, in my opinion, should have caused Detectives Davis and Homan concern as to the truthfulness of Florene Mathis. So, let’s take a closer look at her allegations. For starters, Mathis says she has had contact with Holtzclaw on three separate occasions. The first contact was allegedly in December of 2013 or January of 2014 near Northeast Eighteenth and Stonewall. This would have been very near Florene Mathis’ sister’s home. Mathis gave a detailed account of how Holtzclaw had called a female officer to come to the scene to perform a search upon her. At that point, she said that she admitted to the female officer that she had a crack pipe on her and that the officer took the crack pipe and smashed it on the ground. Further investigation by Detective Davis revealed that Mathis was either mistaken or outright lying. While a stop did occur in that area and in that general time frame, Holtzclaw was not the male officer involved. The male officer was identified in court testimony as Officer Jones. More importantly though, there was no evidence that a female officer was ever involved in that stop. Mathis said her second contact with Holtzclaw was near Northeast Sixteenth and Jordan and was either in March or April of 2014. Detective Davis researched this alleged contact and did verify that Holtzclaw did stop Mathis on March 25thof 2014. The following is the radio traffic from that stop.
28:21
[RECORDING BEGINS]
[DING]
Computer: Tuesday, March, Twenty-Five, Two Thousand Fourteen, Sixteen Fifty-One and Thirty-Four Seconds
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: Two Charlie Forty-Five [inaudible]
Dispatcher: [inaudible] number and go ahead
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: Two Charlie 45, got one to run [inaudible] uh…
[DING]
Computer: Tuesday, March, Twenty-Five, Two Thousand Fourteen, Sixteen Fifty-Two and Zero Seconds
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: I got two to—one to run, goes by two aliases, uh, first last name is gonna be Mathis. That’s Mary-Adam-Tom-Henry-Ida-Sam. First name’s gonna be Florence.
[DING]
Computer: Sixteen Fifty-Two and Twenty Seconds
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: That’s Frank-Lincoln-Ocean-Robert-Edward-Nora-Charles-Edward. Date of birth [redacted], black female. Also goes by the last name of Gibson, first name of Lynn.
Dispatcher: Can you spell Gibson and Lynn?
[DING]
Computer: Sixteen Fifty-Two and Forty Seconds
Dispatcher: And is it still the same date of birth?
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: Ten four, same date of birth. Last name, uh, Gibson. It’s George-Ida-Baker-Sam-Ocean-Nora. First name is Lynn. Lincoln-Young-Nora-Nora.
Dispatcher: Ten four.
[DING]
Computer: Sixteen Fifty-Six and Twenty Seconds
Dispatcher: Charlie Forty-Five, um, she has two City IEWs under Mathis. David-Henry-One, Paul-Sam-Three. Clear under Gibson, Lynn.
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: All right, ten four.
[RECORDING ENDS]
29:39
Host: This stop occurred near Northeast Fifteenth and Jordan. Mathis did have City warrants for her arrest, but Holtzclaw did not ticket her or did not take her to jail. Mathis claims nothing inappropriate occurred during this stop. As for the third encounter detailed by Mathis, the one involving the sexual assault… well, that one’s a bit more complicated. Detective Davis was able to verify that Holtzclaw did indeed come into contact with Mathis on April 14, 2014 at about 6:30 p.m. The following is the radio traffic from that stop.
[RECORDING BEGINS]
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: Forty-Five, I’m at Fifteenth and Jordan processing, Fifteenth and Jordan, I’m good.
[DING]
Computer: Monday, April, Fourteen, Two Thousand Fourteen, Eighteen Forty and Forty-Eight Seconds
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: Two Charlie Forty-Five. I got one to run, uh, last name of Gibson. George-Ida-Baker-Sam-Ocean-Nora. First name of Lynn. Lincoln-Young-Nora-Nora.
[DING]
Computer: Monday, April, Fourteen, Two Thousand Fourteen, Eighteen Forty-one and Zero Seconds
Off. Daniel Holtzclaw: Other alias name of Florence Mathis. Uh, the social, a social of four-four-zero [redacted]. Uh, she gave me a date of birth of [redacted], black male, black female.
[RECORDING ENDS]
Host: As the two sound bites of police radio traffic point out, despite what the prosecution and the media would like you to believe, patrol car GPS was not necessary to pin point the dates and locations of Holtzclaw’s encounters. He literally called them in with no attempt to hide his activities. Holtzclaw’s radio traffic was then compared to his patrol car GPS for confirmation. The third encounter though, the one allegedly involving the groping of Mathis’ breasts, does have some significant contradictory details. Mathis said she had left a residence at Northeast Sixteenth and Jordan where she had been drinking alcohol and smoking crack cocaine all day. She claims she was on foot, headed to her sister’s house, and had made it either Northeast Seventeenth or Northeast Eighteenth Street and North Kate Avenue. That’s when Officer Holtzclaw approached her in his patrol car from behind. Right there is a huge discrepancy and Detective Davis and Homan know it.
32:02
According to Holtzclaw’s radio traffic and patrol car GPS. Holtzclaw actually stopped Mathis near Northeast Fifteenth and Jordan, or only about a block away from the crack house she said she had just left. That’s a huge difference of nearly half a mile. Furthermore, Mathis claims that she was headed west towards her sister’s home, which would have only been a couple of blocks from where she claims she was stopped by Holtzclaw. Yet, she says when the stop was over, and just after Holtzclaw had fondled her breasts, she walked in the opposite direction of her sister’s residence to a park that was in the immediate area. She then turned around and headed back to her sister’s home. Well, if you bring this all up on a map, and I have one published to this episode’s home page at holtzclawtrial.com, there is no park in the immediate area of the Northeast Fifteenth and North Jordan Avenue stop that we know took place with Officer Holtzclaw. But there is the Riley Leroy Pitts Park on the corners of both Northeast Seventeenth and Eighteenth Streets and North Kate Avenue. And that park is directly in the opposite direction of where she was headed, just as she described. However, GPS records don’t show that Holtzclaw ever made a stop in the area she is insisting it happened on Seventeenth or Eighteenth Street just off Kate Avenue and next to a park. This is a huge discrepancy. With the misidentification from the first stop involving an alleged female officer that never actually happened, and now details of the most recent stop that match her description of a location but not the location where Holtzclaw actually encountered her, this leaves open the very real possibility the event in which she was sexually assaulted actually involved a completely different police officer, if the sexual assault actually ever occurred at all.
34:14
I feel it’s important to point out, that Mathis testified during the trial that she estimates that she has been arrested some thirty times by different police officers and has a lengthy criminal record that includes time spent in prison. Which brings up another concern I have: Mathis states that Holtzclaw tried to help her up and he inadvertently hurt her hand and then intentionally fondled her breasts. According to her, she just stood there too scared to say or do anything. While I’d accept that as the truth from many people, I have my doubts when it comes to Florene Mathis. She may be fifty-three years old, but she is anything but meek or timid. You’ll recall she was in jail for Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon when detectives first met with her. At trial it was revealed that Mathis has multiple arrests for not only assault and battery utilizing weapons, but also physically assaulting police officers. In fact, Mathis agreed at trial that she has been arrested in six or seven different jurisdictions for felony Assault and Battery upon a Police Officer. I can’t imagine Mathis would just stand there while Holtzclaw or any other officer fondled her breasts along the side of a neighborhood street and in broad daylight. And what about the timing of the stop she claims resulted in her being fondled? While she does state the time as between six and seven p.m., which matches the time for the Northeast Fifteenth and Jordan stop, she claims that the stop happened while it was “kind of dark out”. Sunset for that date is recorded as 8:02 p.m. She was stopped a full hour and a half before sunset. It would have still been plenty light out during the time we know Holtzclaw stopped her. Unlike Liggons, Morris and Ellis’ allegations, Mathis said that at no time was she placed in the backseat of Holtzclaw’s patrol car. Instead she was seated on the curb near his vehicle. And just like the Morris and Ellis stops, Holtzclaw spent a significant amount of time inquiring as to what the women may have known about the criminal activities in the area, specifically prostitution and drug trafficking. Also, contrary to popular myth, Mathis didn’t have any active warrants. The same as Morris and Liggons.
36:47
There’s something else disturbing that stuck out to me. Mathis clearly told detectives that she could pick her attacker out of a photo line-up, but as we know Detective Davis refused to show any accusers a photo line-up after Terry Morris failed to pick him out. Detective Davis’ investigative notes reveal that she returned to the Oklahoma County Jail the next day. She claims the purpose of that visit was simply to take an oral DNA swab, or buccal swab, of the inside of Mathis’ mouth, and to get some basic background information, so she didn’t bother to record the interaction. You probably recall that Detective Gregory used that same excuse when he returned to visit accuser Terry Morris in jail and conveniently neglected to record most of what turned out to be a very incriminating interview. When we get to the trial episodes of this podcast, I’ll fill you in on some additional details, including how Mathis conveniently claims the groping occurred on the second encounter with Officer Holtzclaw, and not the third as she stated during this part of the investigation. And one other interesting bit of information, while detectives, prosecutors, and the media all make a huge deal out of the fact Holtzclaw wasn’t arresting these women on their insignificant misdemeanor cost warrants, it was revealed that when Mathis testified in court, she had ten active felony warrants for her arrest, and no law enforcement officers or detectives had shown any interest in taking her into custody leading up to her appearance in court. And there’s something else very significant about the Northeast Fifteenth and Jordan location where Mathis was twice previously stopped by Holtzclaw. It’s actually within just a few feet of a suspected crack house that Holtzclaw had been keeping an eye on. And the female occupant of that alleged crack house? Well, she is about to insert herself into this investigation as yet another victim. And Mathis claims she not only knows this accuser but she smokes crack with this accuser and worked as her housekeeper at the time. But that’s for the next episode.
39:07
Here’s a quick recap of the red flags from this episode. Accuser Florene Mathis has misidentified Daniel Holtzclaw as the officer that pulled her over in late 2013 or early 2014. Then she completely made up details about a female officer being called to the scene. Lastly, during the stop where she says she was groped, she can’t remember the date, the month, or really any details of the alleged assault, but clearly states she was on either Northeast Seventeenth or Northeast Eighteenth Street and Kate Avenue, directly across from a park. The problem is that’s nowhere near where Detective Davis knows Daniel Holtzclaw actually stopped her. Yet, once again, Detective Davis justifies her actions with the following quote…
Det. Kim Davis: We’ll take our time and we’ll verify everything the girls say, or we’ll verify everything he said. And the—and, and that’s the way the chips are gonna fall. And everything the girls said verified, and nothing he said did. [laugh]”
Host: In the next episode, detectives interview accuser Tabitha Barnes, the woman who reportedly employed Florene Mathis as her housekeeper even though she herself is on one hundred percent government assistance and is living in a home Officer Holtzclaw suspects of being a crack house. I hope you’ll join me as I continue to dig deep into the case of the State of Oklahoma vs. Daniel Holtzclaw. If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please take a moment to subscribe and give us a five star review. If you would like to know more and see many of the files used to compile this episode, please visit this season’s homepage at holtzclawtrial.com. You can also follow updates on our Facebook page at In Defense of Daniel Holtzclaw, or on Twitter @HoltzclawTrial.
41:07
Bates Investigates - Season One: the Daniel Holtzclaw case is researched, produced, and edited by me, Brian Bates. This has been a bug stomper production.
[child singing] Huh? [squishing sound] [laughter] Bugs!
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