Police say a habitual sex offender has raped another woman, nearly three months to the day after his release from prison.
On December 14, Cleveland County Sheriff's deputies were called to Integris Southwest Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where a 27-year-old woman was seeking treatment after an apparent rape.
The woman told investigators that Mark Anthony Tullis, 52, of Noble, picked her up in a parking lot the previous day and took her to a shed he was using as a residence. The woman says Tullis kept her there overnight against her will. He is accused of raping her at knifepoint and attempting to strangle her with a cell phone charging cord.
Deputies arrested Tullis on December 15 and booked him into the Cleveland County Jail, where he is held on $3 million bond on a first degree rape complaint.
The suspect is a registered sex offender with multiple sex crime convictions. According to Oklahoma Department of Corrections records, Tullis was first convicted of first degree rape in 1986 in Oklahoma County, and he was sentenced to five years of probation.
In 1990, just four months before his probation in the 1986 case would have ended, Tullis was again convicted of sex crimes. This time, he was convicted of first degree rape and forcible sodomy. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison with the last five years suspended on both counts, with both sentences to run concurrently.
In 2004, he was again convicted of sex crimes: lewd molestation and indecent exhibitions. He remained in prison until September 12, 2016. Three months and three days later, he was behind bars again, accused of yet another rape.
Many people believe that sex offenders are habitual offenders and that they are at high risk of re-offense. Typically, this belief is not true. In fact, the rate of recidivism among sex offenders is lower than that for other crimes. However, there are those habitual offenders who will continue to commit sex crimes as long as they are free and able to do so. It seems that, if the allegations against him are true, the defendant in this case is one of those--a true habitual sex offender.
Click here to learn more about how Oklahoma's "risk level assessment" for sex offenders and the registration requirements for each level.
Image credit: Keith Allison
