Garrett Paul Derycke
(PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 34-year-old Yale man has been given a 30-year prison term followed by 10 years of probation for exploiting a 6-year-old for child pornography in a case investigated by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Lew Kellison, who is a member of the Oklahoma Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Garrett Paul Derycke, who previously lived in Cushing, was also given concurrent prison terms of 15 years for aggravated possession of child pornography and five years for possessing depictions of sexual conduct between a human and an animal.
Derycke had avoided a jury trial in April by pleading guilty to all three counts without an agreement with the prosecution regarding his sentence, which could have been as much as three life prison terms.
At the close of a two-hour sentencing hearing Friday, Payne County Associate District Judge Michael Kulling said, “This man is certainly a threat to society, a threat to children.”
Prosecutor Debra Vincent had sought consecutive sentences totaling 55 years in prison, while his court-appointed defense attorney Jodie Gage asked the judge to consider his childhood, a traumatic brain injury, and substance abuse.
On the witness stand, Derycke told the judge, “I am extremely regretful and sorry for what I’ve done. I was under the influence of methamphetamine. I was awake for 72 hours. Then I decided to drink whiskey. I couldn’t sleep. I was scrolling on Facebook. Someone asked if I would send naughty pictures.”
Derycke insisted that the child was asleep and “unaware it was done.”
“I couldn’t forgive myself. I laid awake all night. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I understand the severity of my crime.”
Derycke said that he was sexually abused as a child, was 13 or 14 when he was hit by a car, developed mental health issues and was hospitalized for wanting to kill himself. He said that he looks at pornography, but not anything illegal.
Under cross-examination, Derycke said, “I requested photos, but not of child pornography.” He admitted he had been convicted of domestic abuse and also reckless behavior with a gun.
His attorney told the judge, “He has a history in his youth of substance abuse and sexual abuse. He himself is a victim. His brain was affected by that (crash). He has a traumatic brain injury. He lacks impulse control. It’s not an excuse. It is a partial explanation.”
The Payne County sheriff’s investigator had testified at the sentencing hearing that 169 images were found on Derycke’s phone of the child, along with images of 223 unknown children. On the request of the prosecutor, the judge viewed some of those images in a closed jury room, not the open courtroom in which Derycke’s parents and other observers were present.
Derycke had been arrested at his Yale residence on Feb. 28, 2023, by the investigator after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a cyber tip from Google concerning apparent child pornography that was uploaded to a Google Photos account, an affidavit said.
“The image metadata provided by Google suggested that the images were recently created by a cellphone and uploaded by the user and the images were ‘newly produced’ or ‘homemade content,"” the affidavit said.
During an interview, Derycke had denied taking nude pictures of a child, the affidavit said.
At his sentencing hearing, Derycke said “I deleted all pictures. Everything I had I got that night.”
The prosecutor urged the judge to give Derycke a very long prison sentence: “This is a man who searches pornography. That does not make him a safe neighbor. He suggests it was only done because he was under the influence of methamphetamine and alcohol.
“The unknown children deserve that he be held accountable. This is not a person our community should have to fear.”
According to Payne County court records, five months before his arrest in the child pornography case, Derycke had been placed on four and one-half years of probation for drunk driving on a revoked license in a vehicle with expired tags in Yale, plus 180 days in jail with credit for time served from that arrest in June of 2022, concurrent to his Drug Court termination cases.
Derycke had previously been placed on probation for felony marijuana possession in 2016 and misdemeanor drug possession in 2019, court records show.
At the close of his sentencing hearing Friday, Derycke, who has been in custody on $100,000 bail since his arrest 16 months ago, waived his right to stay for 10 days in the Payne County Jail before being taken to prison.
