OKC Police Investigating Teen Accused Of Lewd Acts

An Oklahoma City teenager is in jail, accused of molesting children.

The teenager, 17, was being held in the Oklahoma County Jail on a $100,000 bond.

Oklahoma City Police began investigating his case after receiving a referral from DHS back in May of this year.

According to DHS, the referral first came in through their hotline and then was assigned to a DHS case worker. They spent the next six months investigating and questioning whether lewd acts had indeed occurred with at least four children ranging in age from 7 to 10, according to the police report.

Thursday, December 8, police made contact with the teen and arrested him on eight counts of Lewd Acts With a Child.

"Again, this case is still under investigation," said Master Sgt. Gary Knight with the Oklahoma City Police Department. "There's numerous victims, possibly even more that we don't know about yet."

Police said the person who called DHS mentioned the teenager may have been preying on other children in the neighborhood. That is something police are in the process of investigating.

Those who know him are stunned to know he faces eight felony counts for reportedly molesting at least four kids.

"He's got a bright mind," said Sean Baker, who is both a close family friend of the teenager, and their pastor. "He loves people! He's very outgoing, he's very articulate in expressing himself."

Baker said teenager's family is overwhelmed by his arrest and they are concerned about his safety, since he is being held at the jail and not a juvenile facility. He was later charged as a youthful offender. He said the teenager's family questions the motives of the people who made the call.

"We believe that all of the allegations that have been made by those two young ladies in its entirety from beginning and on are false," said Baker. "There was a particular week in the month of August that they made five referrals - these same two young ladies - on five families that are associated with this particular family."

Baker said the family has even reached out to the Office of the Inspector General to investigate those referrals.

Police are still investigating, and the teenager's family encourages them to do so.

"Cases of this nature are very convoluted," said Knight. "They take a long time to investigate and they are very detail oriented. And there's a lot of victims that must be interviewed and often times interviewed forensically." 

"We just believe it's best that (he) gets his day in court," said Baker.