By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Cushing man accused of molesting a young female relative has been ordered to appear in court Tuesday for arraignment on two counts of child sexual abuse, each of which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison on conviction.
Jon David Wattenburger, 56, was released on $20,000 bail following his arrest last week in the case investigated by Cushing Police Detective Jerrod Livergood, along with Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Rockford Brown, court records show.
The Cushing detective observed a forensic interview at the Saville Center in Stillwater on Jan. 26 in which a 14-year-old girl disclosed that she was molested at Wattenburger’s house while visiting for Christmas in 2019 when she was 13, an affidavit alleged.
She said she was asleep on a couch and woke up because she felt something, the affidavit alleged.
She said “she tried to tell herself that it was a dream and it didn’t happen, although always kept that in the back of her mind when she was around him after that,” the affidavit alleged. She said she avoided him the next day “and tried to tell herself that it was a dream so she could forget about it,” the affidavit alleged.
She said “this was not the first time he has done something like this,” the affidavit alleged.
She said “she didn’t remember the first time it happened, but remembered it happened a lot when she was younger when she was 5 or 6 years old,” the affidavit alleged.
She said he “would let her drive his Durango while she would steer and he pushed the pedals,” the affidavit alleged. She said he “called it ‘belly rubs’ and he would start by rubbing her stomach and would eventually work his way down,” the affidavit alleged.
She said after each drive, he “would take her to Walmart to buy her a toy so she would focus on the toy and forget what happened,” the affidavit alleged.
She said “she stopped going over there because she was tired of it happening,” the affidavit alleged.
She “also disclosed that she had seen a counselor previously and when she tried to talk to the counselor about what happened, she had a panic attack and was put on medication,” the affidavit alleged.
When Wattenburger was interviewed on Feb. 5 at the Cushing Police Department, he “admitted to allowing (the girl) to steer the vehicle for short drives out on country roads when she was 9-10 years old,” the affidavit alleged.
Wattenburger said “she always asked to go for car rides,” the affidavit alleged. Wattenburger said she “would sit on his lap and he would hold her by the waist only,” the affidavit alleged.
Wattenburger was upset and said that he has never touched his young relatives inappropriately, the affidavit alleged. Wattenburger also denied giving “belly rubs,” the affidavit alleged.
“When asked about December of 2019 when (the girl) claimed to wake up to his hand in her pants,” Wattenburger said “never, ever, I’ve never inappropriately touched,” any of his young relatives ever, the affidavit alleged.
The Cushing detective wrote in his affidavit, “I then asked Jon (Wattenburger) why (the girl) would say these things and he said, ‘I have no idea."”
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