OKLAHOMA CITY -
Residents in the Falcon Crest
Mobile Home Community say Lee Myrick was quiet and kind. The property manager
says he always paid his $600 rent on time, so he was shocked when he saw nine
police cars surround Myrick's trailer, Thursday night.
"The idea that these houses
are so close, you can almost reach out your kitchen window and shake hands with
the next door neighbor in their bedroom or something, it's too close,"
says Dale Kliner, a resident in the mobile park in South Oklahoma City for two
years.
Kliner says he was startled to see
federal marshals and several police officers arrest his next-door neighbor,
39-year-old Lee Myrick, for distributing thousands of pictures of child
pornography.
"No, that's I can't say, that's I'm sorry, there's no reason for
that," Kliner says. "There's no cause for that. Maybe my mind doesn't work like
that, but that's unbelievable."
3/7/2013
Related Story: OKC Man Arrested For Distributing Child Pornography
Myrick is listed as a level three lifetime sex offender. He was
previously convicted of lewd acts to a child in Spokane, Wash. in 1996. He
registered as a sex offender in Oklahoma 2011, and a map listing registered sex
offenders in a one-mile radius of Myrick's mobile home shows he's not alone.
"There are some in this neighborhood," says Jeff Wendel, park
manager. "I don't have a problem with giving people second chances."
Wendel says Myrick kept to himself and never heard any complaints
from other tenants about him. He says Myrick had several computers in his
trailer and when he refused to come out Thursday night, officers pried his door
open before they arrested him.
"I truly believe that if someone has the opportunity, gets out to
make themselves better, I'm willing to help," Wendel says. "But when they
choose not to change and not to get help when they have issues, then I believe
he's probably going back to where he belongs."
Lt. Mark Bruning of the Guthrie Police Department is who Myrick
sent child porn to this week, and because the images involved infants and
babies, Bruning was able to make a quick arrest in just a couple of days.
Bruning says it could take weeks before officers are able to
tabulate how many child pornography pictures Myrick has on his computers.
Investigators are trying to figure out if there are any local victims.