STILLWATER — Bail was increased Monday to $270,000 for a Cushing man who is now accused of raping a 6-year-old girl in Cushing in 1997 and committing lewd acts on three other children in Stillwater during a six-year period beginning in 2002, court officials said.
Cornell Maurice Mukes, 38, could receive as much as two life prison terms without the possibility of parole plus 20 years if convicted of rape by instrumentation of the child in Cushing and performing lewd acts on her, court records show.
Mukes’ bail on a three-count charge, which was filed in the Cushing case as a result of a Stillwater police investigation, was set Monday at $150,000, Deputy Court Clerk Rhonda Bagwell said.
The girl, who was related to an acquaintance of Mukes, was allegedly raped twice at one Cushing residence and had lewd acts performed on her at another Cushing residence, all in October 1997, Stillwater police spokesman Dale Higgins said Monday.
When the new charge was filed last week, Mukes was already jailed in lieu of posting $120,000 bail on charges of committing lewd acts on three other children, ages 9, 10, and 11, while he was living in Stillwater.
Mukes has been charged with one count involving a 9-year-old girl in 2003 and three counts involving an 11-year-old boy between 2002 and 2004. At the time, Mukes was related to the children by marriage, Higgins said.
Those charges were filed following an interview with Mukes by Stillwater Police Sgt. Jeff Watts, after Mukes was arrested at a Cushing residence on April 15, Higgins said.
Mukes had gone to Cushing after he got out of a hospital where he was treated for his injuries following an April 9 beating by another alleged victim’s father, in whose Stillwater home he had recently been staying, police said.
In that case, Mukes is facing six counts of lewd acts on a 10-year-old boy between March 21 and April 9 — when Stillwater police were called to the residence on a report that Mukes and the boy’s father were fighting on the ground, police said.
The father said that his son had just confided in him that Mukes had sexually abused him on more than one occasion and the fight ensued, Higgins said.
If convicted of 11 counts of lewd acts to a child and two counts of rape by instrumentation of a child, Mukes could receive two life prison terms without the possibility of parole plus a 220-year prison sentence, according to the charges filed by Payne County First Assistant District Attorney Tom Lee.
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