In Tulsa, Oklahoma, former gubernatorial candidate Paul C. Tay still sits in jail pending an August 2022 trial for Rape and Assault and Battery with a Dangerous Weapon. Tay is charged with Rape although no penetration of the vagina by a penis is alleged, a fact necessary for a ‘rape.’ Previously Tay was charged with Kidnapping as Tulsa Police Department Lt. Det. Darin Ehrenrich went on TV and told audiences that Tay took the woman from Oklahoma City to Tulsa against her will, a fact Judge Priddy noted was not testified to at Preliminary Hearing.
Judge Priddy also noted that the alleged victim could not confirm if either of the alleged incidents, rape or the separate battery, even occurred in Tulsa. The police report notes no marks or bruises.
Lt. Det. Ehrenrich recently lost a trial April 29, 2022 wherein Assistant District Attorney (ADA) to District Attorney (DA) Stephen Kunzweiler, Ashley Swindell Nix, claimed herself the victim of rape. The jury found that defendant not guilty instead choosing to believe defense attorney Allen Smallwood’s version of events that Ms. Nix was fresh off a divorce and afraid of discipline at work for sleeping with at least one married coworker. Nix testified to messages she wrote in the days after the alleged rape of wanting ‘the Courthouse to burn down’ or to ‘inactivate’ the case so that she did not have to deal with the ‘mess’ that ‘she had created.’ Nix testified consist with wanting to avoid discipline as a coworkers wife was banging on her door at 3 am just days prior to the false allegation.
Smallwood seemed to insinuate that Ehrenrich and Nix had a previously relationship, would text each other days prior to the false rape allegation, and that Ehrenrich had known Nix for a number of years since Nix was an intern at the Tulsa County DA office, possibly as early as 2017. If anyone has knowledge of a romantic relationship between Lt. Det. Darin Ehrenrich and Ms. Ashley Swindell Nix they are encouraged to contact the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office and Tulsa Attorney Allen Smallwood. It is believed that Ehrenrich is now the person of interest in an internal affairs investigations and rumor has it that he got a Driving Under the Influence charge during his police academy although this has not yet been independently verified.
