A member of the Oklahoma Pardon Parole Board has resigned after an investigation into allegations of “inappropriate activities” while he served as a court program administrator in Pontotoc County, according to a letter obtained by The Frontier.

Calvin Prince abruptly resigned from the Pardon and Parole Board the day after Thanksgiving. The resignation came two days after the Pontotoc County district attorney notified the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office in a letter that he had asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to investigate Prince. 

Prince had served as Pontotoc County’s drug court administrator.

The Oklahoman reported that Prince resigned after allegations he sent inappropriate text messages to a woman in a court-mandated class.

Erik Johnson, district attorney for Pontotoc, Seminole and Hughes Counties, asked to be recused from further involvement in the case due to his working relationship with the drug court program in a letter to Attorney General Gentner Drummond on Nov. 27. Johnson also urged Drummond to take action to “…protect the integrity of the Pardon & Parole process along with provide any support services to any individual victims, should any be identified, during the course of this investigation,” he wrote.

Before his term on the Pardon and Parole Board, Prince had served on the Oklahoma Department of Corrections Board of Directors since 2019. He began working as an administrator for Pontotoc County specialty courts, including drug and mental health court programs, in 2012, according to a press release.

Prince’s attorney notified the Pardon Parole Board of his immediate resignation in an email Friday afternoon. The attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Gov. Kevin Stitt appointed Prince to the board in 2023 for a four-year term. Stitt’s office didn’t return The Frontier’s request for comment. 

As a result of two recent resignations of Pardon and Parole Board members, a clemency hearing for death row prisoner Kevin Ray Underwood originally set for Wednesday has been postponed.

Pardon and Parole Board Chairman Edward Konieczny announced his resignation at the November board meeting. Tom Bates, executive director of the Pardon and Parole Board, said the resignation was unrelated to Prince. 

Underwood was sentenced to death for the 2006 murder of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bolin. He told police he killed Bolin and chopped her up, according to Pardon and Parole Board records. Police found Bolin in a plastic tub in Underwood’s closet.

The Attorney General’s Office filed an emergency petition Monday at the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals opposing the rescheduling of Underwood’s clemency hearing to Dec. 9. Drummond argues the delay is unnecessary because the current board members can form a quorum. 

“Jamie’s family has already waited 18 agonizing years to see justice served. Adding further delay is needless and unconscionable,” Drummond said in a statement Monday. “Kevin Underwood is a deeply evil monster whose execution absolutely should be carried out without further setback. I urge Gov. Stitt to ensure justice is served at last in this hideous case.”

Underwood’s execution remains scheduled for Dec. 19.