Former Muskogee Police Sgt. David Abston pleaded not guilty Friday to three child pornography charges in U.S. District Court in Tulsa and faces a detention hearing at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Abston remains in federal custody after being arrested Thursday afternoon at a Bixby movie theater on charges of distribution of child pornography.

Abston was declared a federal fugitive Tuesday after he failed to appear for a 2 p.m. detention hearing in federal court in Tulsa.

The FBI and police in Tulsa and Broken Arrow were searching for him.

Abston’s attorney, Keith Ward, said he told Abston hours before the hearing that the government planned to request he be held without bond.

Their following conversation led Ward to be concerned for Abston’s well being, he said.

Ward said after he was apprehended that Abbot told him he “was scared, convinced he was going to jail and was too frightened and desperate to go to the Tuesday hearing.

“He considered fleeing or committing suicide. He had sold his truck. He spent the night in a motel and Thursday decided to turn himself in but wanted to see a movie before he called me and had me take him downtown to turn himself in.”

Abston took a taxi to the movie theater, Ward said.

Abston was carrying a loaded pistol when he was arrested, a big wad of cash, a $23,000 check from a Tulsa car dealer and an old police commission badge. He also had a list of names and phone numbers.

He gave police two fake names before they found his ID on him.

Ward said Abston has raised kids who are now adults, put them through college without expectation of anything in return, and they plan to stand behind him.

“He also was raising a boy right now because the parents had personal problems that impeded their ability to care for him,” Ward said.

Ward said the boy said Abston never touched him inappropriately.

“He’s 55 and never been in trouble in his entire life,” Ward said. “He’s an honorable person, and nothing about this (indictment) is consistent with his reputation established over 55 years.”

No new charges had been filed against Abston as of Friday, but Tulsa and Broken Arrow police say they have had complaints from minors that he molested them at a skating rink he owned in Broken Arrow and at his Tulsa home.



Abston carried Muskogee badge

Muskogee Police Chief Rex Eskridge, who has maintained a friendship with Abston, said the badge Abston carried at the time of his arrest was an old Muskogee Crime Commission badge.

Prominent Muskogee businessman James Leake and a group of his friends were instrumental in forming the commission in the 1990s, before Eskridge was named chief, Eskridge said.

He said after he became chief, he gave about six people Crime Commission cards and badges, and Abston was one of those people.

“Most of the members were private businessmen who would get together to help the police department,” Eskridge said.



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