Perkins Man Accused Of Abusing Son For Liking OU Better Than OSU

A 9-year-old boy claims his father battered, abused and beat him, partly because he did not share his parents' love for OSU.

These shocking allegations are coming out of the town of Perkins, just outside Stillwater.

According to a court document filed by a school resource officer with Perkins Police Department, the young boy told fellow classmates, his teacher, and DHS workers that his father whipped him with a paddle, and threw away all his OU gear for telling a boy he liked OU better than OSU.

He also showed them the bruises he got as a result of that beating.

Turns out his father, Gannon Mendez of Perkins Oklahoma, is a big OSU booster who was accused of providing benefits to some OSU players back in 2011 that would have violated NCAA rules. But the university said those claims were unfounded.

Now Mendez is facing felony child abuse charges.

In the affidavit, the young boy claimed his father forced him to eat soap, would often punch him in the nose and give him nosebleeds, and would repeatedly wake him in the middle of the night and make him perform boot camp drills inside the families Perkins home.

Court papers also reveal his own stepsister backs up the abuse claim, saying Mendez would make both of them run laps at the high school track as punishment, and that her brother would often throw up.

"Parents should certainly discipline their children," said John Hopper, who lives just down the street." I'm not opposed to that, but to abuse them is a different story."

Police have filed an arrest warrant request for both Gannon Mendez and his wife Angela.

Neither could be reached for comment. We did call their attorney, but that call has not yet been returned.