WATONGA – Watonga City Manager Karrie Beth Little has hired a new chief of police, she told the Watonga Republican last week, and his hire was acknowledged during Tuesday’s Watonga City Council meeting.
John Noriega is joining the Watonga PD from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, where he has served since 2018 after a stint as the police chief in Langston.
Noriega is tentatively scheduled to start in Watonga on Dec. 6, Little told the council on Tuesday. Because he was unable to attend the meeting, councilmembers asked Little if she might arrange a time for them to meet Noriega and the other new officers, and Little said she will.
Noriega now becomes the chief after five months of other officers filling that role on an interim basis. In June, former Watonga police chief Shawn Kays was fired from the force on the same day a protective order was sought against him. Kays has since been criminally charged for a separate incident that occurred while he was chief.
On Facebook last week, Noriega said he “can’t wait to get started” in the role.
“Bring back a department that the Citizens of Watonga will be proud of again,” Noriega wrote.