(Cushing) – A 19-year-old man who is on active duty in the United States Air Force has been charged with first-degree rape for allegedly having sex on Dec. 14 with a 13-year-old girl whom he met at a church in Cushing.
Erik Reid McCown, 19, who is stationed at Tinker Air Force Base, was arrested by Cushing Police Detective Adam Harp on Dec. 23, Cushing Deputy Police Chief Tully Folden told KUSH Monday.
McCown was subsequently freed on $20,000 bond with an order to return to court Monday to be arraigned on the felony charge, court records show.
The alleged sexual relationship between the underage girl and the airman came to light after her brother “caught her sneaking into the house and he told their parents about her sneaking back home,” the girl told the detective, according to his affidavit.
She said that “while she was at school that her parents went through her phone and noticed several text messages between the two and two nude photographs that she took of herself and sent to him via cellphone,” the affidavit alleged.
The girl said that “she told her parents what took place between her and McCown,” the affidavit alleged.
The girl’s parents allowed the Cushing police detective to search the girl’s cellphone — which contained sexually-explicit messages “between her and McCown before and after the sexual conduct,” the affidavit alleged.
The detective allegedly located the two nude photographs of the girl on her cellphone, which was seized as evidence, the affidavit said.
The girl was taken by her mother to the Stillwater Medical Center where a rape examination was conducted, which included collecting trace and biological evidence for comparison, the affidavit said.
Subsequently, the Cushing police detective interviewed McCown at the Office of Special Investigation at Tinker Air Force Base, since he is on active duty in the Air Force, the affidavit said.
“I asked McCown if he knew why I wanted to talk with him and he said yes,” Harp wrote in his affidavit.
McCown said that he and the girl have known each other for about two years since they attended church together in Cushing, according to the affidavit.
McCown said that he had asked her to be his girlfriend about a month ago and she agreed, but he broke up with her shortly after that, the affidavit alleged.
McCown said that he and the girl met on a street corner on Dec. 13 when he was already in Cushing to attend an event, the affidavit said.
McCown described sexual acts that they performed in his vehicle, the affidavit alleged.
McCown admitted that he and the girl had been text messaging before and after the sexual encounter, the affidavit alleged.
McCown also admitted that the girl had sent him via cellphone two nude photos of herself, which he deleted the same day he got them, the affidavit said. The detective seized his cellphone, the affidavit said.
McCown said that he thought that the 13-year-old girl was between 15 and 16, the affidavit said. He said he did not remember if he ever asked about her age, the affidavit said.
“McCown said that he knew that she was underage,” the affidavit alleged.
After a search warrant was issued by a Payne County judge, McCown’s mouth area was swabbed to be sent to the state crime bureau, along with the sexual assault kit, for comparison for trace and biological evidence, the affidavit said.
The underage girl had told Cushing police that she had consensual sex with McCown, who attended her church in Cushing, the affidavit said.
She said that in November he asked her to be his girlfriend and she agreed, but they broke up about four weeks later “because they never got to see each other because she was always grounded,” the affidavit said.
She said that they recently began to talk to each other again, the affidavit said.
She said that on Dec. 13 she and McCown were texting back and forth and she planned to sneak out of the house to meet him at a street corner in Cushing, the affidavit alleged.
She said that at 12:30 a.m on Dec. 14, she “snuck out of the front door,” met him at a street intersection, and got into his Jeep, the affidavit said.
She said that they performed sex acts in his Jeep while they were parked off the roadway on North Little Avenue, the affidavit alleged.
She said that the sex was consensual and “she never told McCown to stop nor was she scared for her safety,” the affidavit alleged.
If convicted of having sex with a 13-year-old girl, who cannot legally consent to such a relationship, the airman faces a minimum five-year prison sentence, according to court documents.
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