After a stranger sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl at a southwest Oklahoma City convenience store earlier this month, police released surveillance video of the assailant hoping to identify the man. Police released a photo of the man on Facebook with instructions to call Crime Stoppers with any information. Within an hour, police received numerous tips leading them to arrest a suspect.

Investigators have identified the suspect as David Bocock, 28, of Oklahoma City. Police arrested him at his southwest Oklahoma City home, and he is facing charges of lewd acts with a minor under 16 and sexual battery.

The case began on March 1, when the girl went to a convenience store located near SW 89th and Penn. She later told police that the man was watching her so intently that she became nervous and uncomfortable. She reported that the man followed her inside as she went to get a drink, and he continued to stare at her as he called her sexually explicit names. 

The girl reported that the man grabbed her from behind before a store clerk intervened, asking the man if she could help him with anything. Reports say the man told the clerk he needed a lighter. The employee handed him a lighter, and he left the store with it.

Although reports say he faces a charge of sexual battery, such an act applies to non-consensual physical sexual contact with a person aged 16 or older. If the girl involved in this case is aged 14 as reported, the man is more likely to be charged with lewd acts with a child under 16. Lewd Acts is a felony sex crime punishable by 3 to 20 years in prison in most cases; however, if the child involved is under the age of 12, the crime is punishable by a minimum of 25 years. Conviction of lewd acts also mandates lifetime sex offender registration. 

This is not the first time Bocock has faced prosecution for a sex crime. In 2001, Bocock, then 22, exposed himself to a female student in the parking lot of Westmoore High School. He received a deferred sentence for indecent exposure, only completing sex offender treatment after prosecutors filed a motion to accelerate sentencing. Just four years later, he created three MySpace profiles, calling himself a "male nympho" with "sex on the mind waking up and going to sleep" who wanted to meet "sluts and whores."

This history will likely stack the deck against the defendant in prosecution. Strong criminal defense will be necessary.

Image credit: Oklahoma City Crime Stoppers