A 13-year veteran of the Oklahoma City Fire Department has been arrested on multiple child sex abuse complaints after allegedly engaging in a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl.
Jason Lyle Wood, 39, was arrested after the girl's father made allegations against him at the Garvin County Sheriff's Department. The man told deputies that Wood, an OCFD dispatcher, had sex with the girl multiple times in multiple jurisdictions beginning in June of this year. After an investigation, Wood was booked into the Garvin County Jail on complaints of rape, forcible sodomy, and lewd acts with a minor.
According to local news reports, one witness told authorities that Wood accessed Oklahoma City Police Department files when he learned he was under investigation, and that he admitted that he "was in love with" the alleged victim.
A probable cause affidavit accuses Wood of buying a cell phone for the girl so that she could contact him without her parents' knowledge, and that he asked her to text him every morning. He is accused of receiving nude cell phone pictures of the girl as well as sending her nude pictures of himself. Court records indicate that the man and girl had sex in multiple jurisdictions, including Moore in Oklahoma County and Elmore City in Garvin County. He is also accused of having sex with the girl in New Mexico.
Garvin County Sheriff Larry Rhodes called the case against Wood "strong," and said that the evidence gained in the investigation may corroborate the initial charges or lead to additional charges.
In Oklahoma, rape is considered non-consensual sex, and it is classified as either first degree rape or second degree rape. Oklahoma's age of consent is 16, and a person under the age of 16 is legally unable to consent to sex. In most cases, seemingly consensual sex with a minor under 16 would be charged as second degree rape, or statutory rape. However, sex with a person under the age of 14 by a person over the age of 18 is first degree rape, according to 21 O.S. § 1114. Whereas statutory rape is punishable by a term of one to fifteen years in prison, first degree rape is punishable by a minimum of five years in prison and a maximum of life in prison without parole. Both first and second degree rape are Level 3 Sex Offenses and carry lifetime sex offender registration.
Lewd acts with a minor, frequently know as child molestation, is a catch-all charge which encompasses all acts of child sexual abuse. It includes online solicitation of minors, inappropriately touching children, exposing oneself to a minor, and even looking upon a child in a "lewd or lascivious manner." Lewd or Indecent Proposals or Acts to a Child under 16 is a felony punishable by three to twenty years in prison--unless the victim is under the age of 12. In that case, the crime carries a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.
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