Jury finds Crescent man guilty of first degree rape

A Logan County jury found a man guilty on three counts of rape in the first degree and three counts of lewd molestation charges arising from the man’s sexual abuse of his two daughters and one of their friends. The verdict came down on Thursday afternoon.

The jury, which comprised of eight men and four women, needed just over three hours to return the verdict on Carl Douglas Crick, Jr.

In early 2014, the daughters were age 20 and 12 when they disclosed the sexual abuse to an agent of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. He discovered that the sexual abuse of the daughters by the defendant extended back for almost a decade. In addition to the daughters, one of their friends, age 12 was interviewed by a forensic interviewer at the Saville Center for Child Advocacy and disclosed more recent sexual abuse by the defendant.

Following a five month investigation, charges were filed in June of 2014. After the filing of criminal charges, the defendant’s father was charged and later convicted of attempted intimidation of a witness with regard to one of the victims of the sexual assault.

Over the course of three days, the jury heard testimony of the two daughters, the friend, counselors, an expert forensic interviewer and others.

The jury recommended life imprisonment on each of the three rape counts, and 50, 20 and 20 years on the three molestation counts.

Under Oklahoma law all sexual abuse charges require the defendant to serve at least 85 percent of the imposed sentence before he can be considered for parole.  Should Crick ever be released from prison, he will be required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his life.

District Judge Phillip Corley set formal sentencing on June 15 at 9 a.m.

District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas said in a release, “Child sexual abuse cases are among the most serious crimes, but are the most difficult to prosecute. The evidence is usually limited by the ability of the child to remember and relate what has happened to them. These horrible crimes take place in secret, without witnesses, and the children are often threatened or otherwise coerced to stay silent for long periods of time, as occurred in this case. These victims endured horrific abuse followed by ongoing years of counseling. The damage child sexual abuse causes will last a lifetime. “