Michael Todd Bunch, the 50-year-old former superintendent of Ninnekah Public Schools, has entered a blind plea of no contest to a felony strangulation charge stemming from a 2022 incident at an Oklahoma City hotel, closing out the criminal case just weeks before he faces sentencing this fall.
Bunch pleaded no contest in court, according to KFOR, resolving two charges that dated back to 2022: rape in the first degree by strangulation and domestic assault. The station reports that the state dismissed the rape charge in 2024, leaving only the strangulation count, to which Bunch ultimately entered his no-contest plea. He was accused of sexually and physically assaulting his now-former fiancée while staying at the Omni Hotel for a work event, and security was called to the room because of a commotion before Bunch left as security arrived, per the outlet's reporting.
Attorney Shelby Ross, representing the victim, told KFOR that the woman cannot live the way she could before the attack and said she constantly lives in fear and has flashbacks of what happened. Bunch has a sentencing date set for October 14, and the strangulation charge could result in one to two years in jail or probation, according to the station's report.
A Strangulation Charge Carries Statutory Weight
Under Oklahoma law, domestic abuse committed by strangulation or attempted strangulation against an intimate partner is a felony that carries a mandatory sentence of one to three years in state prison and a fine of up to $3,000 for a first offense, according to Justia Law. That statutory ceiling is higher than the one-to-two-year range cited in the KFOR report, leaving open exactly what the judge will impose when sentencing arrives.
This is not the first time Bunch has faced a domestic violence allegation. He was arrested in 2018 in Garvin County after his then-girlfriend alleged he tried to smother her with a pillow at his Lindsay home, a case that ended in acquittal, as News 9 reported at the time. Bunch has since returned to his home in Lindsay.
A Superintendent's Career Already in Ruins
Bunch's legal troubles are inseparable from his tenure atop Ninnekah Public Schools, where he was named in a federal lawsuit involving former basketball coach Ronald Akins. Akins pleaded guilty in August 2023 to 10 felony counts of sexual abuse against students at Ninnekah and was sentenced to a 40-year term, with 15 years in prison followed by 25 years of probation, according to the Arizona Daily Star. That same outlet reported that a key investigative case file and physical evidence connected to an early law enforcement probe into Akins' conduct went missing from the Grady County Sheriff's Office.
A 2021 Oklahoma State Department of Education inquiry found that Bunch had been notified by law enforcement as early as 2015 about allegations of improper conduct by Akins at a previous district, yet Akins remained employed at Ninnekah for five more years, per the Billings Gazette. The Ninnekah Public Schools Board of Education voted to suspend Bunch and High School Principal David Pitts in August 2021 following the federal lawsuit filings and public outrage over the district's handling of the abuse allegations, according to AP News. Two months later, the Oklahoma State Board of Education voted unanimously to place Ninnekah Public Schools on probation and suspend the educator certifications of three district administrators, including Bunch, News 9 reported.
The Settlement's Lasting Toll on Ninnekah
Hoodline previously reported on the $7.5 million settlement Ninnekah Public Schools agreed to pay in September 2024 to resolve claims brought by 14 former female students who alleged sexual abuse by Akins and accused district leaders of ignoring complaints, a deal that dismissed Bunch and three other administrators from the lawsuit, according to Chickasha Today. To help fund that settlement, the district imposed a major property tax increase on local property owners in 2025, sparking community outcry and a petition drive by residents seeking to close the district, News 9 reported.
The financial and civic fallout continues to weigh on the small Oklahoma town even as the criminal case against its former superintendent nears its conclusion. With sentencing set for October 14, Bunch's fate on the strangulation conviction remains an open question, one that will determine whether he serves time or receives probation for the felony that outlasted the rape charge originally filed against him.
