Lawyers in the case against the Kingfisher school district and some of its coaches are alleging witness tampering by a former coach on the football staff.

Ross Leonoudakis of Nix Patterson LLP, co-counsel for John Doe No. 1, signed a “cease and desist” letter that was dated May 4 and addressed to “Counsel, Members of the Board of Education, Defendant Coaches and Others to Whom this Concerns.” Doe has sued the school district, head football coach Jeff Myers, assistant Derek Patterson and former assistants Micah Nall and Blake Eaton. The suit alleges a culture of hazing, bullying and forms of harassment during Doe’s tenure on the football team.

The cease and desist letter alleges improper witness communications between Taylor Schwerdtfeger, an assistant coach under Jeff Myers for five seasons before resigning in 2013 to coach at El Reno, and a former KHS football player.

The unnamed player was a part of a list of alleged incidents provided by the plaintiff’s attorneys in a settlement demand letter dated April 26.

That portion of the settlement letter said “Coach Myers physically abused a senior football player who had developed a staph infection in his leg” by attempting to “squeeze the bacteria out of the player’s infected knee.”

The May 4 letter laid parts of a text conversation that was allegedly recently conducted between Schwerdtfeger and the former player.

Doe’s attorney posted a screen shot of the alleged conversation on social media.

The screen shot shows what would be Schwerdtfeger’s part of the conversation that reads, in part: “I had an out of the blue call yesterday from an attorney dealing with the KF fiasco. Your name came up and I wanted to talk to you about it. I told them I thought this was something you would prob want to stay out of but I didn’t want to speak for you. If you get some free time holler at me please” The response shows to be: “No due disrespect, but I’m staying out of this” The reply to that reads: “For sure. But they are saying you are in it already. That’s why I think your (sic) going to have to tell them you don’t want in it” A subpoena document filed May 4 shows Schwerdtfeger received a subpoena to testify in a deposition and was ordered to produce for the deposition any communications with the plaintiff’s attorneys; members of the Kingfisher school board, any current or former KPS employee, any defendant and/or any person representing the defendant; any current or former KHS football players regarding the lawsuit; in which Schwerdtfeger contacted or attempted to contact any person to discuss their participation in the lawsuit as a witness or potential witness; or any posts or comments he has made publicly about the lawsuit, including on social media.

“Witness tampering and intimidation is a crime,” the letter reads. “It is sanctionable. And, when done at the direction of an attorney, it is a violation of our ethical rules and grounds for discipline.”

It later states the firm will continue to investigate the matter.

“And we will be sharing this letter, as well as any further information we uncover, with the District Attorney, the Court, and the Bar Association where appropriate,” the letter states.

“In the meantime, we encourage you to contact your lawyers, your clients, and anyone else at your direction and inform them that this sort of behavior will not be tolerated.”

The April 26 letter demanded a settlement of $5 million for Doe as well as the firing of Jeff Myers.

The letter said the district had 14 days to act on the demand or the amount sought would double to $10 million plus the other stipulations.

An addendum to the letter was filed April 30. On top of the previous demands was one of required training for all KPS employees and board members “that addresses how to properly identify, respond to, and prevent bullying, hazing and sexual harassment.”

Kingfisher’s board of education met May 1 for its regular meeting, but did discuss the settlement in executive session.

Upon returning from that session, the board members voted to instruct its attorneys to inform all necessary parties of the decision, but didn’t announce publicly their intent.

The civil case was filed in Kingfisher County District Court, but moved to the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma.

The trial is currently slated to begin in September.