(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man avoided a jury trial — that was scheduled for this week — by pleading guilty to aggravated possession of child pornography after a former felony conviction.
Rickford Joseph Lee Jr., 40, who does not have a plea agreement with the prosecution regarding his penalty, was ordered held without bond pending his sentencing on Dec. 4.
District Judge Phillip Corley ordered a pre-sentencing investigation of Lee, who could be given as much as a life prison term for possessing 100 or more materials depicting explicit child pornography.
Lee has been in the Payne County Jail since his arrest at his residence on Nov. 14, 2013, by Stillwater Police Detective Inspector Greg Miller, court records show.
An investigation began when Officer Brandon Dudgeon spotted Lee in his truck in the playground area of Couch Park at 4:20 p.m Nov. 9, 2013, Miller wrote in an affidavit.
“Officer Dudgeon was aware of recent complaints of men loitering in their vehicles in the park. Officer Dudgeon made contact with the man — who he could see was zipping up his pants,” the affidavit said.
During a conversation with the officer, “Mr. Lee admitted he was parked in the area watching the people on the playground. Mr. Lee admitted to masturbating while watching the people,” the affidavit said.
“Mr. Lee stated he was addicted to pornography. When asked about pornography involving children, Mr. Lee said there might be some on his cell phone and his tablet computer in the truck,” the affidavit said.
“Officer Dudgeon located the several computer-related items in the truck to include a 2 Gb Sandisk Cruzer Micro USB drive.
“As he found the items, he asked Mr. Lee if it might contain child pornography. Mr. Lee was uncertain which USB storage device contained child pornography, but told Officer Dudgeon that at least one of the storage devices may contain child pornography,” the affidavit said.
After the detective inspector obtained a search warrant to examine the content of the digital storage devices seized by the officer, “I located 713 image files on the device that I believe to be child pornography,” Miller wrote in his affidavit.
The children were girls ranging in age from about 3 to 12, according to the affidavit.
According to court records, ten years ago Lee was placed on two years’ probation for doing $12,461 damage to a bank ATM machine in Stillwater by hitting it with a metal pipe to retrieve his debit card.
Because the bank had insurance to cover most of its loss, Lee was only ordered to pay $1,000 restitution, along with a $500 fine, court records show.
Lee was required to have an anger management course, along with a substance abuse evaluation and any recommended follow-up. He was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service, court records show.
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