There have been some pretty shocking allegations against Oklahoma law enforcement officers over the last few years. Former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw was convicted as a serial rapist after sexually assaulting several women while on duty. Former Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Eric Harris is expected to plead guilty to several charges relating to the sexual assault of three women while on duty. Former Tulsa County Sheriff's Deputy Gerald Nuckolls was sentenced to eight years in prison for on-duty indecent exposure and sexual battery. And these are just a few of the Oklahoma law officers accused of sex crimes.
Now, another is added to the list: former Perry police officer Matthew Lance Vassar, 45, has resigned from the police department after he was accused of sexually abusing a girl over the past few years.
According to reports, the now 12-year-old girl told a friend that Vassar had been touching her inappropriately for three or four years. That friend told her parents, who called the child's mother and told her what their daughter had said. Reports say the girl's mother immediately called the police and filed a protective order against Vassar, citing sexual assault as the reason for the order of protection.
Vassar was arrested at a relative's home in Ponca City last week on a complaint of lewd molestation and booked into the Kay County jail. Bond was initially set at $750,000, but was later reduced to $150,000 with stipulations that, upon release, he wear a GPS ankle monitor, surrender his passport, and have no contact with the alleged victim.
Lewd molestation is prosecuted in Oklahoma under 21 O.S. § 1123 - Lewd or Indecent Proposals or Acts to a Child under 16. Under this law, it is a felony to make any sexually explicit suggestion to a minor under 16 or to touch the body of a child under 16 in a lewd or lascivious manner. The penalties for lewd acts with a minor are severe: if the child involved is aged 12 to 15, the crime is punishable by 3 to 20 years in prison. If the child involved is younger than 12 years old, the penalty is a minimum of 25 years. In either case, conviction is punishable by lifetime sex offender registration.
The allegations in this case are that the sexual abuse began in approximately 2013, years before the child accuser turned 12. If convicted, the former police officer faces 25 years to life in prison.
Image Credit: Kay County Reentry Coalition
