Tahlequah Assistant Police Chief Who Backed the Blue — Now Under Investigation for Vandalism at Tenkiller Lake

Tahlequah's Assistant Police Chief built a career on community trust and law-and-order events. Now surveillance footage puts him at the scene of a Memorial Day vandalism that destroyed a children's summer attraction — and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office isn't done asking questions.

Bryce Lubbers spent months getting ready for summer.

The owner of Burnt Cabin Marina on Lake Tenkiller had invested in something new this year — a floating inflatable obstacle course called the "Tenkiller Thriller," designed to give kids a reason to shriek and splash and beg their parents to come back next weekend. It sat on the water in the largest cove of one of eastern Oklahoma's most beloved lakes: 13,000 surface acres of clear, blue-green water tucked into the Ozark highlands of Cherokee County, about ten miles south of Tahlequah.

The Tenkiller Thriller cost $5,100. Lubbers said he poured time, care, and real money into it — not just for profit, but because he believed it was exactly what families out on the lake deserved.

Over Memorial Day weekend, someone cut it apart.

"It actually hurt," Lubbers told News On 6. "There was a lot of time and effort into it, and you want kids to have this joy."

What happened next is what turned a routine vandalism report into something far more uncomfortable for the city of Tahlequah — because when investigators reviewed the marina's surveillance footage, they recognized a face. Not a stranger. Not a troublemaker with a record. The man walking past the inflatable shortly before it was found destroyed was, according to Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King, the department's own second-in-command: Assistant Chief Dexter Scott.

A Night That Reportedly Started With a Bar Argument

The vandalism did not happen in isolation. According to Cherokee County Sheriff's Office reports reviewed by the Tahlequah Daily Press, deputies responded to the vandalism call on the morning of May 22 — the night before Memorial Day proper — at Tenkiller Thriller, the newly launched inflatable waterpark at Burnt Cabin Marina.

Before the cutting, there had been a confrontation.

According to Lubbers, a group of men — which reportedly included Scott — had been asked to leave the marina after employees confronted them about allegedly trying to bring outside alcohol into the Boat Bar & Grill, the restaurant on the marina's floating deck overlooking the lake.

"You wouldn't bring a beer into Chili's," Lubbers said. "Why are you bringing it into the restaurant at the lake?"

The group reportedly left — or appeared to. Surveillance footage then allegedly captured the men walking past the Tenkiller Thriller as they departed at approximately 11:30 p.m. One individual who was not Scott, according to reports, turned back toward the inflatable attraction after the group had reached the marina exit, walked up to it, and allegedly cut it.

The inflatable sank. By morning, it was in pieces.

Cherokee County Sheriff's Office deputies documented the damage and launched an investigation. When marina staff and investigators reviewed the surveillance footage, they say they recognized Dexter Scott in the group. The sheriff's office says Scott has not been cleared and the criminal investigation remains active as of this writing.

Who Is Dexter Scott?

If there is a particular irony to this story, it lies not just in the fact that a senior law enforcement officer is under investigation for alleged involvement in a crime. It lies in which officer, and which lake.

Dexter Scott is not a peripheral figure in the Tahlequah Police Department. He is the No. 2 officer in the city's law enforcement hierarchy, the assistant chief of a department that serves a city of roughly 16,000 people at the heart of Cherokee Nation territory in northeastern Oklahoma.

According to his official city biography, Scott began his law enforcement career in 2007 as a communications officer with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office — the same agency now investigating him. He became a sheriff's deputy in 2010 and worked as a school resource officer for rural Cherokee County schools before eventually joining the Tahlequah Police Department, where he rose through the ranks over more than a decade to become assistant chief.

Chief King told News On 6 that Scott has no prior disciplinary history. He is, by all accounts, a fixture of the department and the community.

He is also, in a detail that strikes at the heart of this story, the founder and director of the Black the Blue Fishing Tournament — an annual event held on Lake Tenkiller, the very lake where the Tenkiller Thriller sat, and where it was allegedly destroyed while Scott was reportedly present.

The tournament, which Scott launched years ago and has run annually since, raises money specifically for the Tahlequah Police Department. In 2021, Scott told the Tahlequah Daily Press the event was in its second year and had drawn more than 50 teams, raising close to $6,000 for department equipment and training. He described the philosophy plainly: "One of the things we wanted to do was raise money for the guys within the department."

He is also the current president of the Keys School Board and a former president of the Tahlequah Fraternal Order of Police.

Scott is, in other words, not just a police administrator. He is one of the most publicly committed advocates for law enforcement in Cherokee County — a man who organizes fishing tournaments to buy his own officers better gear and holds community events in the name of police trust on the very lake now central to this investigation.

"The Optics Probably Don't Put the Department in the Best Light"

To his credit, Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King did not attempt to minimize what the surveillance footage appeared to show.

"The optics of the video, at least off the cuff, probably don't put the Tahlequah Police Department in the best light," King said. "For that, I am sorry to Tahlequah."

He confirmed publicly that Scott appears in the surveillance video, that the assistant chief was placed on paid administrative leave immediately, and that the city is committed to accountability if investigators determine Scott was involved in the vandalism.

"If the community can't trust the law enforcement agency that's protecting it," King said, "then what good are we?"

King also noted the complicating reality: Scott has more than a decade of service with no prior disciplinary history. He is not some rogue officer with a troubled record. He is, or was until last Thursday, the deputy head of the department.

Scott himself declined to comment on the record due to his administrative leave status. In a brief phone call with News On 6, he said he looks forward to sharing his statement at some point.

The Investigation: Where Things Stand

The criminal investigation is being handled by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office — a deliberate separation designed to avoid the obvious conflict of having the Tahlequah Police Department investigate its own assistant chief. That decision reflects standard practice for police misconduct and integrity investigations, but it is worth noting: the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office is the same agency where Scott launched his law enforcement career in 2007.

As of May 30, 2026, the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office has confirmed that Scott has not been cleared and remains under active investigation. No charges have been filed. The investigation is ongoing.

The Tahlequah Police Department has said it will conduct a separate internal review of Scott's conduct — but that review will not begin until the criminal investigation is completed. This means the city's own accountability process is on hold, waiting for the sheriff's office to finish its work.

Meanwhile, Lubbers said he is trying to determine whether the destroyed portion of the Tenkiller Thriller can be repaired. He acknowledged it won't be easy. The inflatable was manufactured overseas, and replacing it would be expensive. But he said he isn't giving up.

"It won't hold me down," Lubbers said. "We'll get after it and keep going."

A Question of Accountability

This story is, on its surface, about a $5,100 inflatable on a lake. A bad night. A bar argument. A piece of children's equipment that may have been cut out of spite by someone who got kicked out for sneaking alcohol into a restaurant.

But beneath the surface, it raises questions that communities across eastern Oklahoma have confronted before, and will confront again: What happens when the people entrusted to enforce the law are the ones suspected of breaking it? And does the identity of the accused — their rank, their reputation, their community service — change how swiftly and completely accountability is pursued?

Chief King's public statement suggests the answer, at least from his perspective, is no. The surveillance footage was enough. The leave was immediate. The apology to Tahlequah was offered without hesitation.

But the city of Tahlequah — and more broadly, Cherokee County — now waits. No charges. No internal review. No outcome. Just a man on paid administrative leave, a destroyed kids' attraction, and a sheriff's investigation that is open but has yet to produce consequences.

Dexter Scott founded an annual fishing tournament on Lake Tenkiller to support the police. He served as a school resource officer for rural kids. He's been cited in press releases about homicides and drug busts, the steady public face of a department he's served for over a decade.

And this summer, his own name is attached to a sheriff's investigation at the lake he made his signature charitable cause.

The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said the investigation is continuing. When charges are filed — if charges are filed — EastOklahoma.com will report it.

EastOklahoma.com is an independent news outlet covering stories across the 26 counties of the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Tips and story leads can be submitted via our contact page. Scott has not been charged with any crime. He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Sources: NewsOn6.com (Cal Day, May 29, 2026); Tahlequah Daily Press (May 29, 2026); City of Tahlequah official staff biography; Tahlequah Daily Press ("Fishing tournament to reel in funds for police," Sept. 24, 2021); Cherokee County Sheriff's Office incident reports.