Oklahoma City serial rapist gets 5 life without parole terms

John Earl Stephney Jr, 33, was sentenced to five life without parole terms for the rapes of five women by
Judge Kenneth Watson on Friday, January 28, 2011. Stepney's guilty plea to the charges did not help him one iota at sentencing.

The judge was told he attacked the first rape victim as she slept in her apartment Nov. 17, 2008. Next, he attacked a woman walking home from work late Dec. 7, 2008.

His third victim was the woman who was doing Christmas shopping the afternoon of Dec. 23, 2008, at Penn Square Mall. His fourth victim was attacked Jan. 5, 2009, as she was doing laundry at her apartment complex.

The fifth victim was attacked on Jan. 7, 2009, as she was vacuuming her car at a car wash. She told police the rapist said, “Maybe next time your husband will come wash your car.” Stepney was arrested the next day.

Stepney forced two victims to let him withdraw cash at ATMs from their bank accounts, according to the police reports and court records. In his attacks, he threatened the women with a BB gun that looked like a real handgun, prosecutors said.

The third victim read an impact statement to the court. “Things are still not back to my ‘normal.' I do not ever sleep well. I hear every little noise and I am jolted awake multiple times every night. Every time I have to walk to my car alone I have such pain and tightness in my chest is it almost unbearable.”

According to police reports, when Stephney saw his victim was looking away, he said “What are you doing not paying attention?" The victim said when she did look at him, he said “Don't look at me. Do you want a .45 bullet to your head?”

Judge Watson said that  if the victim had been his daughter, “I wonder if I could let the penitentiary take care of it rather than taking care of it myself.”

As for Stepney, he made no statement during sentencing, but in a pre sentence report he said "I made some bad decisions. I have wrecked lives including my own. I have always had a problem with pornography.”

He also said he was using drugs when “my crimes happened.” He said, “The drugs make you feel like you must have everything you want. They take over you. … All I can really ask for is to be forgiven.”

Stepney's bad decisions have exacted a heavy price on his life and the lives of his victims. Forgiveness will not come from the people of Oklahoma, but perhaps, one day, may come from God .

Fabulist who murdered wife convicted, sentenced to LWOP

(Initial Post 9-26-10)
A Tulsa County, OK jury needed only a half hour of deliberation in a lawyer's shooting murder by her own husband. John Robert Kastner, 52, was convicted of the 1st degree murder of his wife, 44 year old Lori Moon Kastner, at their south side Tulsa, OK home on June 25, 2008. The motive, according to Tulsa County, OK prosecutors, was that the victim was about to expose her husband's lies.

Kastner had led his family to believe that all five family members were traveling by plane to Israel on June 25, 2008, prosecutors said. Kastner indicated he was a former member of the Israeli military who had been honored for heroism and that the trip to Israel was related to a high-paying job that Lori Kastner was going to get with a corporation connected to her husband.

No such flight or job offer existed, and Kastner never served in the Israeli military, prosecutors said.

Kastner made significant financial promises to benefit Webster that he could not keep, and he "was a ticking time bomb getting ready to explode," [First Assistant District Attorney Doug] Drummond said.

Drummond also insisted that "[Kastner's] reputation was going to be ruined, and that was the most important thing in John Kastner's life."

The other prosecutor in the case, Assistant District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler, said that Kastner, the "legend of Webster High School," is "nothing but a bald-faced liar. You cannot believe a word that the defendant says."

Kastner said the killer was an intruder who he said picked up Kastner's gun in the house. He told police that he struggled with the intruder and was shot in the hand, and he said the intruder fled with a bag containing about $5,000, evidence indicated.

Kunzweiler said Kastner's account features a "mysterious man" moving around in a dark house and finding a loaded gun and money on the same table. Kastner was an English teacher, "and as an English teacher he deals in fiction," Kunzweiler said

Assistant Public Defender Jill Webb said that Kastner had no motive to kill his wife because killing her would not solve his problems - "John's problem was John." Webb said that while Kastner was guilty of lying and making false promises, it did not prove he was a murderer. Kastner was never called to the witness stand.

When he is formally sentenced tomorrow, Kastner will be sentenced to life without parole - in Oklahoma, murder carries death, life without parole, or life with parole. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, and jurors ruled out life with parole.  Amber Merchant, Lori Kastner's best friend, said "We're very pleased with the verdict and feel like justice was served."

Kastner plans to appeal the verdict, according to Chief Public Defender Pete Silva. The presiding judge is District Judge Tom Gillert.

(Update 9-29-10) Kastner was formally sentenced to life without parole Monday, September 27, 2010. If he had been granted parole, he would have had to serve 38 and 3 months before his first chance of it.

Sunday School teacher stabbed to death outside of Wal-Mart - convicted sex offender suspect

A registered sex offender with a long criminal history in Arkansas was arrested outside his Oklahoma City trailer Saturday, February 6 and charged with the 1st degree murder of a 26 year old Sunday School teacher. Family members said that the victim, Nelly Pelts, made a habit of shopping lat at night inside the Del City Wal-Mart, all the while, witnessing and telling folks about her church, located next to the murder scene.

This habit turned tragic when Platts met James Allen O'Berry, 53, around 12:20 AM Saturday. The video shows O'Berry approaching Pelts and them leaving the store parking lot at 12:35 AM. According to O'Berry, they went outside of their cars then left with her. Next thing, according to O'Berry, he "blacked out" and at around 12:50 AM Saturday,  O'Berry stabbed the woman to death and struck her with his car. He was later found inside his Oklahoma City mobile home.

James Allen O'Berry, 53, was taken into custody late Saturday evening after surveillance video from the Del City Walmart was aired on several local television stations and two separate tipsters called with O'Berry's name and address.

When detectives and officers from Midwest City and Oklahoma City Police Department arrived at O'Berry's mobile home, 2401 SE 44th, Lot No. 50 in Oklahoma City, his 1997 Lincoln Towne car was parked outside.

The car matched the description given by the witness who saw the attack and also had damage to the left front and driver's side rear view mirror. Evidence gathered at the murder scene from the suspect's car was linked to O'Berry's Lincoln. The car also had blood inside.

Investigators recovered O'Berry's clothing which had been discarded and dumped in a trash bin near I-35 and SW 44th Street.

 

Search warrants have been conducted on O'Berry's home and car in which additional evidence has been recovered. O'Berry had changed his appearance by cutting his hair and also suffered a laceration to his left arm during the attack which required medical treatment prior to him being jailed.

Del City Police Chief  Brandon Clabes' statement is below.

  We are extremely grateful to Walmart for providing photos of our suspect, to the media for airing those almost instantaneously, and to our tipsters who called in which lead to O'Berry's identification .A tremendous amount of manpower was allocated to solve this brutal homicide, and everyone worked tirelessly for justice. You have a young, innocent woman who devotes her life to her faith and because of this, becomes targeted by a sexual predator and ultimately killed. Basically within a time span of twenty minutes, James O'Berry tracked his prey and viciously killed her.

Brian Bates, the "Video Vigilante" who prevents johns from picking up prostitutes on a particular stretch of Oklahoma City highway, said that O'Berry tried to assault him, and heard from people who knew the convict after posting the video online. "All of those emails came with a warning he's a very violent man," Bates said.

Bates said he filed a complaint with the police department. But in the meantime, he tried to prevent O'Berry from soliciting prostitutes.

"My only fear is since the police didn't act on my video and didn't charge this guy with some sort of probation violation, he was then allowed to perpetrate this murder," Bates said.

District Attorney David Prate said he's been in contact with Brian Bates about the complaint he filed at the police department. Prater said he's trying to find out what happened and if O'Berry's probation could have been revoked, which may have prevented the murder of Nelly Pelts.

The Midwest City police department is currently holding O'Berry on a 1st degree murder complaint and is questioning him to see if more crimes can be traced to him.

Besides this case, O'Berry is named as a suspect in two other Oklahoma City police cases. In one, a 26 year old women complained that she started to be stalked after O'Bery met her at her southeast Oklahoma City church. A second woman alleges that as a police impersonator, O'Berry pulled her over in her car and raped her.

Masseur with property crime history accused of fondling customer

A masseur with a history of property crimes, including 1st degree burglary, was accused of fondling and molesting a long time customer of the massage business that he worked for. The 35 year old victim claimed that Joshua Shane Beach, 25, fondled her breasts, genitals, and performed oral sex on her during the 1 1/2 hour "massage" section.

Pam Henrichs, Beach's manager, said that she wasn't awars of his criminal history, but appeared to be a legitimate - and popular masseur.  "He's only been here a month and was doing good. He had a number of repeat (customers), including her. I was impressed with him and his knowledge about massage." The victim was a client of the facility for 12 years.

During questioning by detectives, Beach admitted fondling and performing oral sex with the alleged victim, apologizing to the woman for making her "uncomfortable."

Oklahoma sheriff charged, convicted of numerous counts of rape - sentenced to 79 years

(Original Post 4-19-08)

Custer County Sheriff Mike Burgess of Oklahoma was indicted on 35 counts, including 14 counts of 2nd degree rape, 5 counts of bribery by a public official and 7 counts of forcible oral sex for allegedly coercing and bribing inmates to participate in sex games.

Burgess, the top officer in the county of 26,000 since 1994, appeared in court Wednesday was released after posting $50,000 bail.

"We are stunned," Undersheriff Kenneth Tidwell said Thursday.

Attorney Steve Huddleston said that he has not had a chance to review all the allegations against his client, but that "Mr. Burgess is anxious to go to court and clear his name."


Among other things, Burgess is accused of having sex with a female drug court participant who was in his custody. The crimes are to have occurred between October 2005 and April 2007.

A dozen former inmates filed a federal lawsuit last October alleging that they were offered cigarettes for flashing their breasts and employees and forced to engage in wet T-shirt contests.

One prisoner alleged she became a jail trusty with more freedom after agreeing to perform a sex act on Burgess, but lost that status when she later refused.

Burgess also faces two counts each of sexual battery, rape by instrumentation and subornation of perjury, and one count each of engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses, indecent exposure and kidnapping.

He could be sentenced to 467 years in prison if convicted on all counts, special prosecutor James Boring said, though a lesser sentence would be more likely.

No other officials have been charged or implicated at this time. [It seems like there are others besides the Sheriff who participated. He couldn't have done all of this by himself. Someone had to distribute the cigarettes].

(Update 8-16-08) Jennifer Tyler, a former deputy sheriff now an officer in Washington State, testified in the preliminary hearing Tuesday that Burgess put his hand down her pants, feeling her buttocks and waistline when she was fitting her uniform for the job on her first day.

"It's degrading to have someone who just hired you to stick his hands down your pants," Tyler said.

The defense atorney, Tim Henderson, asked why Tyler did not just punch him out or report him to officials and not just her husband, and she said "I needed a job."

On another occasion, she alleged that Burgess grabbed her butt outside a OKC restraunt while another deputy watched, and placed his left hand on her thigh under the table while inside it.

Henderson asked why Tyler did not protest, and she said, "I needed the insurance. I needed the job. I had a baby to feed."

Tyler also claimed she had an unwanted encounter with Burgess in a hallway outside District Judge Charles L. Goodwin's courtroom. On that occasion, she claimed Burgess grabbed her buttocks from behind and attempted to pull her against his body. A struggle ensued while Burgess "laughed."

"Finally," Tyler said, "I broke through the door where a group of attorneys had congregated."

Henderson then implied that Tyler should have punched Burgess out, and that Tyler was willing to compromise her morals for a job. (If Tyler had done so, she could be charged with battery on a police officer, or even shot, while the officer claimed self-defense. Losing her job would be the least of her worries).

"So you were willing to compromise your morals for a $24,000-a-year-job?" Henderson barked.
"I guess so," Tyler said sheepishly. "I did."

(Update 1-19-09) Burgess was convicted of 13 felony counts for using his position to coerce drug court defendants and inmates into sex. A Major County jury convicted Burgess on 13 counts, including 5 counts of 2nd degree rape. The jury recommended that Burgess serve a 94 year sentence. Formal sentencing will be March 24. The jury also acquitted Burgess of 23 other counts.

Burgess was [also] convicted of three counts of bribery by a public official; two counts of forcible sodomy; and one count each of kidnapping, sexual battery and engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses.

Under Oklahoma law, inmate/guard sex is deemed non consensual, and others who "control the conditions" of an inmates confinement also can't legally consent to sex with inmates. Because Burgess administered a drug court in Custer County, prosecutors alleged that he controlled the condiitons of confinement.

Victims testified that they feared that they would be sent to prison if they did not provide sexual favors to Burgess, with one victim having sex with him over a 14 month period.

Defense lawyer Steve Huddleston contended that drug court defendants were controlled by a judge, not Burgess, and said the women were hoping a verdict against Burgess in criminal court would translate to a payday for them in a civil case.

Prosecutor Jim Swartz in closing arguments, stated "If you're going to act like an animal, you're going to be caged like an animal." After the verdict, prosecutor Mike Boring stated that "I think this is an extremely important decision. This kind of action cannot be tolerated in our society."

Steve Huddleston, Burgess' defense attorney, said his client will appeal.

(Update 3-25-09) Burgess was sentenced to 79 years in prison and a $15,000 fine by Associate District Judge N. Vince Barefoot yesterday. Jurors recommended 94 years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Victim Brenda Brown said, "I’m relieved he’s being put away for a long time. I know I feel safer. I also feel compassion for his family. But I also know I didn’t put them in this position. Mike Burgess did.”

Brown's mother, Sue McDougall, wrote letters to Judge Barefoot explaining that Burgess need to be made an example of.

"I basically said we needed to make him (Burgess) an example for those in law enforcement who want to use their positions and power against those who are vulnerable. Brenda was trying to start her life over again when he forced her to do all those things. He should be punished.”

Joy Lee Mason, another victim, held hands with Brown, stating "We were just clenching each other’s hands. I have a very hard time looking at him. It’s just too hard. There’s no telling how far he set me back in my recovery. Right now, I’m pretty much back to square one.”

Oklahoma "boyfriend" pleads guilty to murdering pregnant woman

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - An Oklahoma City man has pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the death of his pregnant girlfriend and the fetus.

Eric Phan faces life in prison either with or without the possibility of parole after entering the plea Thursday in Oklahoma County District Court.

Phan was arrested Nov. 28 after a friend told police in Bethany he'd confessed to killing Lauren Barnes.Barnes had been reported missing less than a week earlier after telling her family she was going to talk to Phan.

Her body was found Nov. 30 in a shallow grave in Stinchcomb Wildlife Refuge in Oklahoma City

Lawyer charged with overseeing troubled attorneys lands in hot water for alleged groping

Dan Murdock, the 62 year old lawyer in charge of overseeing Oklahoma attorneys facing disciplinary actions, is himself facing troubles, after being charged sexual battery with groping a woman June 28 during a wedding shower.


He is charged with two counts because he allegedly bit the 36-year-old woman's breast and groped her genital area, then grabbed her by the hair and bit her on the back of the neck when she tried to get away from him, according to court documents.

Oklahoma City police swabbed the woman's bite marks, finding DNA consistent with a sample from him, Detective Daniel Sheehan wrote in an affidavit.

Murdock faces 10 years in prison, and is free on $5,000 bail. His official position, which he requested a leave of absence from, is the General Counsel for the Oklahoma Bar Association.

Rapist sentenced to 2 decades behind bars

Charles Eugene Decker, 58, of Fitzhugh, OK, was sentenced to two decades in prison for a count of rape with instrumentation June 3 in Ada, Oklahoma. He was found guilty during a bench trial by Judge Tom Landrith on May 8. Decker was arrested in April 2007 after the victim told deputies he raped her while asleep.On May 8, Decker was found guilty on the rape charge by Judge Tom Landrith after a non-jury trial.

Decker was arrested in April 2007 by Undersheriff Joe Glover after the victim told deputies he had raped her while she was asleep.The victim took the stand and said she awoke to find Decker touching her below the waist. She said she and her boyfriend lived in a makeshift apartment on Decker’s property doing odd jobs for him.

The night of the incident, the victim, her boyfriend, Decker and his girlfriend had all reportedly been drinking. After the victim and her boyfriend went to sleep the incident occurred, she said. She woke her boyfriend and told him what was going on. At this time, she said she could hear Decker leaving and saying, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

While Decker’s attorney questioned the character and truthfulness of the victim and her boyfriend, Assistant District Attorney Jim Tillison said the facts would show she was telling the truth and her character was not a factor. Decker insisted on testifying on his own behalf admitted he had been drinking and said he blacked-out and didn’t remember anything until he heard the victim yell her boyfriend’s name. He said he “snapped to” and realized he was in the wrong place.

“I didn’t rape that little girl,” Decker said.

According to Assistant District Attorney Jim Tillison, Decker pleaded no contest to two other charges, both for bringing contraband into a jail facility. These charges led to 5 year sentences to be served concurrently with the rape sentence.

Loophole in Oklahoma rape statutes closed

A rape law loophole in Oklahoma which defines cases where a victim is drunk, unconscious or drugged as second degree rape instead of 1st degree rape has been closed by Oklahoma legislators. Representative Pam Peterson of Tulsa authored the bill to close the loophole after prosecutors in her city had to prosecute rape committed after a victim was drugged as second, not first degree rape. The difference in penalties regarding first degree versus second degree rape can be huge - life in prison versus a fifteen year maximum.

Current law authorizes a first-degree rape charge "where the victim was incapable through mental illness or any other unsoundness of mind, whether temporary or permanent, of giving legal consent."

Tulsa prosecutors used that definition to file a first-degree rape charge against a former nurse who was accused of raping a drugged patient at a Tulsa hospital. But the defendant's defense attorney argued that "unsoundness of mind" does not qualify when an alleged victim is drugged and unconscious. A judge ordered the man bound over for trial on a second-degree rape charge in April, and prosecutors decided not to appeal the ruling.

"I think it was an oversight in state law," Peterson said.

In a similar case in Coyle, a teenage girl recently attended a party and was given a drink she now believes contained a "date rape" drug. After passing out, the girl says she was raped and woke up with six men in the room. The only person charged in the case, a 24-year old Coyle man, is accused of second-degree rape by intoxication.

The new legislation updates state statutes to authorize a first-degree rape charge when the act is "accomplished where the victim is intoxicated by a narcotic or anesthetic agent" or in instances "where the victim is at the time unconscious of the nature of the act and this fact is known to the accused."

Peterson's bill passes with bipartisan support, and she said the new legislation would make convicted rapist pay the full price for what they have done.

"It's encouraging. We can work in a bipartisan way to get good legislation passed. It can be done....This legislation will make it easier to subject rapists to the full punishment allowed under the law."

The bill is expected to be signed by Oklahoma's governor next week.

Man, already charged with molesting girl, now charged with assaulting nurse

David Wayne Rogers Jr., 30, a Bartlesville, OK man who was originally charged with the lewd molestation of a 11 year ond girl has been charged with the sexual battery of a nurse by the sexual groping on the buttocks.

Rogers was originally charged with counts of lewd molestation and rape by instrumentation in August of 2007.According to a probable cause affidavit, on March 9, the nurse told authorities that she had been helping jail personnel serve meals when Rogers reached out of his cell and grabbed her buttocks. She reportedly screamed and left the area before reporting the incident to deputies.

In his earlier case, Bartlesville police were alerted on Aug. 3, 2007 that Rogers had reportedly molested an 11-year-old female.When interviewed, the girl said the alleged actions had happened around 6 a.m. on Aug. 3. The report states that the girl became visibly upset and began to cry when recounting the events.

Rogers denied the allegations regarding the allegeitons involving the girl but said he had 15 beers the night before and sometimes blacked out.

Muskogee, OK man charged with rape

Jon Cooper Mike Jr., 26, a Muskogee, OK man, was charged in a September 2006 burglary and rape with 1st degree rape, 1st degree burglary, and malicious injury to property.

The rape count carries a possible punishment of from not less than five years in prison to death, according to Muskogee County Assistant District Farley Ward.

The burglary count stems from Mike allegedly breaking into the house occupied by the woman he is accused of raping. The crime is punishable by seven to 20 years in prison.

The malicious injury to property charge is a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail for up to one year and/or a fine of up to $500.

Mike is being held on $200,000 bond. He faces a sounding hearing (the initial hearing before the preliminart hearing) on May 9. If he maks bond, he is to have no contact with the victim or other witnesses in the case.

OK prison guard charged with sexual "relationship" with inmate

Dean Craig Jimison, 49, a former Eddie Warrior Correctional Center guard, was charged with rape and sodomy for ongoing sex with a female inmate serving time for her own sex offense conviction. The Ft. Gisson resident is free orn $20,000 bond on three charges of rape and three charges of sodomy each.

Jimison was a sergeant and guard at the time, according to the charges. He is no longer employed at the prison, a prison employee said.

The alleged offenses were revealed by the former inmate to a counselor in her sex offender treatment class, said Nikki Baker-Dotson, Muskogee County assistant district attorney.

The 33-year-old woman had been serving 30 years for rape convictions from Washington County, according to Oklahoma Department of Corrections records. She also had been given 15 years on probation out of Washington County and a 10-year suspended sentence for a Tulsa County rape conviction, records show.

While the victim said that the sex acts were consensual, there is no true consent between guards and prison inmates. Sodomy in Oklahoma carries a maximum 10 year term, and rape carries between 1 and 15 years.

Man charged with 1st degree rape of "friend"

A 20 year old Ardmore, OK man was accused of raping an acquaintance over the weekend. Jeremy Clay Cheek, 20, was charged with 1st degree rape and held on $250,000 bond at his initial appearence in Dstrict Court Tuesday afternoon.

Capt. Eric Hamblin, Ardmore Police Department Criminal Investigation Division, said the 20-year-old victim and Cheek were friends. Cheek was reportedly spending the night with the victim when the rape occurred. Hamblin declined to release any further details, saying, "I can't comment further on the evidence."

Cheek was booked into the Carter County Detention Center at the time of his arrest.

He remains in jail pending bond posting. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 28.

Upskirting soon to be illegal in Oklahoma

In Oklahoma, upskirting is currently legal because of a case where a man sucessfully got his voyeurism case dropped because courts said that a woman did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy from Peeping Toms. Videotaping kids is illegal.

In the criminal case, a 34-year-old man was arrested in 2006 for placing a camera underneath the girl's skirt at a Tulsa store and taking photographs. He was charged under a "Peeping Tom" statute that requires the victim to be "in a place where there is a right to a reasonable expectation of privacy."

A Tulsa County judge dismissed the charge in January 2007 after ruling that "the person photographed was not in a place where she had a reasonable expectation of privacy." The decision was upheld this week by the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals. Appellate court Judge Gary Lumpkin dissented from the court's 4-1 decision, writing that "what this decision does is state to women who desire to wear dresses that there is no expectation of privacy as to what they have covered with their dress." "In other words, it is open season for peeping Toms in public places who want to look under a woman's dress," Lumpkin wrote.

State representative Pam Peterson, R-Tulsa, has written a bill which makes it a misdemeanor to video tape a person's private areas,"regardless of whether the person is in a public or private place." Penalties range up to a year in jail and a $5000 fine.

In Illinois, videotaping of both kids and adults was made a felony as of January 1st, and a Chicago Tribune report dated December 26, 2007 showed that damage to victims from the videotaping and distribution on the Internet was widespread.

For those who are interested, the Oklahoma bill to outlaw peeping with cameras is HB 2606. Unfortunately, unlike other states, the maximum penalty is a misdemeanor.