A 30-year-old Oklahoma City man is behind bars after police say he met a 14-year-old foster child on Snapchat, picked her up after she climbed out a shelter window, and raped her multiple times — assaulting a second teenage girl in the process. The man is jailed on two counts of lewd acts with a child under 16, with investigators saying additional charges may follow.
According to KOCO, the 14-year-old girl told police she left her shelter through a window on July 18 and disclosed her age to the man before he picked her up across the street from the shelter at an apartment building in Oklahoma City. Police say the man then had sex with the girl after pulling over during the drive, and threatened her — telling her he would return her to the shelter if she refused, per the station’s report.
A Second Teen Pulled Into the Assault
The man allegedly brought the girl to his home, where he raped her again and forced her to watch part of the assault, according to the same account. He is also accused of demanding she perform additional sexual acts. The 14-year-old had met a 17-year-old girl who lived in Midwest City — described as a friend — and the man later picked up that teen and brought her to his house as well, KOCO reports.
Police allege the man raped the 17-year-old girl too. On July 20, he drove both girls back to the older teen’s house, the outlet notes. It was there that the 17-year-old’s mother learned the 14-year-old was staying with her family, and she called her daughter’s caseworker to report it — a call that set off the chain of events leading to the arrest.
A Delayed Discovery
The Oklahoma Department of Human Services says it did not learn the 14-year-old was missing until July 21, three days after she left the shelter. A DHS spokesperson said the agency cannot discuss the specific circumstances because the investigation remains active, but added that protecting children in state care is an important responsibility and that DHS will continue working with law enforcement, per the same account. A shelter staff member had separately requested contact information for the 17-year-old’s mother, though it is not clear from available reporting exactly how that request fits into the shelter’s response timeline…