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February 14, 2012

Oktaha resident jailed, accused of incest with teen

By Mike Carrels Phoenix Staff Writer

— An Oktaha man was arrested Monday and booked into the Muskogee County/City Detention Facility on an incest complaint.

Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Coletta Peyton said William H. Godfrey, 29, would be arraigned today.

The complaint came after Peyton was called to an area school after a 16-year-old asked to talk to law officers.

“When I got down there, the victim advised me what had been going on,” Peyton said. “When I first started investigating it, I thought we were going to have a rape charge.”

Peyton said Godfrey denied the allegations. A few days later, the victim changed the story, saying the sex was consensual, Peyton said.

“So I went back and talked to the suspect and told the suspect what I knew,” Peyton said. “I asked him if it was true, and he said, ‘yeah,’ so I wrote my case up and turned it into the DA, who issued a warrant for incest.”

The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force assisted on the arrest, Peyton said.

Godfrey also was booked on an alleged probation violation, she said. He was serving a five-year suspended sentence, imposed in June 2010, for unlawful possession of a controlled drug with intent to distribute. Peyton said Godfrey’s bond was set at $75,000 on the incest complaint and $10,000 on the probation violation.

Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson said no rape charge would be filed because the victim is 16.

“The (victim) admits it was consensual,” Pearson said. “Anyone above 16 can give consent; 15 and below you can’t. We can’t find where this happened when the victim was 15.”

Pearson said he expected more sex-related arrests after he appointed Deputy Roy Banks the department’s sex offender compliance officer.

“These are some of the things that are starting to come out,” he said. “There’s so much coming out of it now that we’re educating and seeing them and out there working them.”

Reach Mike Carrels at (918) 684-2922 or mcarrels@muskogeephoenix.com.

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