Demanding Accountability
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Judge's former secretary
to cut hairBy Nolan Clay
The OklahomanThe former secretary of a top state judge was sentenced Tuesday to cut hair after she pleaded guilty to a drug offense.
Continuing coverage of Judge Steve Lile, who is being investigated on allegations he allowed a secretary to be a “ghost” employee, that he bought her furniture using court funds and he intervened in her son’s criminal cases.
Dawn M. Lukasik, 38, of Lawton also must spend five years on probation, take random drug tests and continue counseling.
Lukasik was at the center of a scandal that led Judge Steve Lile to resign Feb. 28 from the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. She was arrested May 4 in Edmond after police found methamphetamine in her purse during a traffic stop.
She pleaded guilty Tuesday to possessing 2.5 grams of methamphetamine with an intent to distribute. Oklahoma County District Judge Virgil C. Black chose her punishment.
Black ordered her to cut hair for 40 hours as community service. He added the unusual condition after learning she used to have a cosmetology license. She was instructed to check in with the Comanche County sheriff and "give haircuts to people going to court."
Her probation is a deferred sentence, meaning she will not have a felony conviction if she violates no other laws. Black rejected a prosecution recommendation to send her to a prison boot-camp program.
She admitted to recent drug use, according to a report prepared by the Department of Corrections for her sentencing.
However, she still insisted she was doing her own undercover work in May to identify drug dealers so she could report them. She said she was trying to understand why her own son had been caught up in methamphetamine use, according to the report.
Her son, Loran Michael Wilson, 20, is serving a four-year prison sentence for attempting to manufacture methamphetamine.
She plans to file for bankruptcy because she owes $135,000 in credit card debt, according to the presentence report.
Lukasik worked for Lile last year.
Lile, 57, was a judge at the appeals court for six years. Attorney General Drew Edmondson dropped an investigation of Lile after he resigned.
Investigators checked into accusations Lile allowed Lukasik to be a "ghost employee," that he used court funds to pay for things for her and that he made personal trips at court expense.
Lile reimbursed the state $1,523.64 for travel and $1,560.43 for improper purchases.
Investigators also looked into whether Lile intervened in her son's criminal cases and intervened again after she was arrested Dec. 16 in Lawton during a drug check.
Lukasik was not charged after the Lawton arrest.
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