Jacob Dobson
(PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man accused of approaching a young woman from behind, while she was walking home at night from a bar on the strip near Oklahoma State University, and putting his hand between her legs has been jailed on $100,000 bail pending a March 12 hearing on a sexual battery charge.
If convicted, Jacob Colten Dobson, 26, who was arrested six days later at a fast-food restaurant in Stillwater, could be given a 10-year prison term, court records show.
The woman was crying when she reported the assault at 2:19 am on Feb. 16 in the 1000 block of W. University to Stillwater Police Officer Bryan Luginbill, an affidavit said.
She said she was followed home by a man and was about to go inside when she was grabbed inappropriately, an affidavit alleged. She said she grabbed him by the throat to try to get him away, he let her go, and she ran in her house to call 911, the affidavit alleged.
She said “she didn’t see his face but said it was a white male. Officers on the scene were able to recover a very distinctive hat that was left at the scene from the male,” Stillwater Police Detective Mary Kellison alleged in an affidavit.
“This hat is a dark brown trucker-style mesh-backed hat with an embroidered Barnacle Busters emblem on the front and an embroidered Deep Seas emblem on the left side of the hat,” the affidavit alleged. A 19-year-old man said he witnessed a struggle in the parking lot and was going to intervene when he saw a man take off running, which was confirmed by video footage, the affidavit alleged.
After a news release described the suspect and showed the distinctive hat recovered from the scene, a 34-year-old man said, “he had purchased the hat,” and later donated several hats as well as clothing to Jacob Dobson, the affidavit alleged. He said, “he knew Jacob was out on the strip located on S. Washington on the night the assault took place,” the affidavit alleged.
The young woman had attended “a closed-date party located at Outlaws on Feb. 15, 2024, from 9 pm to 12 am on Feb. 16, 2024,” the affidavit alleged.
Video footage showed that Dobson had entered Outlaws at 501 S. Washington on Feb. 16, 2024, at 12:06 am in dark shoes, light colored jeans, a black jacket with a hood and the distinctive Barnacle Busters hat and left at about 1:37 am on Feb. 16, 2024. the affidavit alleged. “Jacob’s black jacket had his last name, Dobson, across the left breast pocket area,” the affidavit alleged.
Video footage showed the woman walking into the parking lot of her residence and a struggle between a male and the woman, which resulted in the male taking off running, the affidavit alleged.
