An Oklahoma City parade-goer is behind bars after allegedly groping another parade attendee over the weekend.
Oklahoma City police responded to a call about the incident on Saturday, in which a 20-year-old man attending the Pride parade with his girlfriend reportedthat another man had touched his genitals without consent.
The man told police that another man, later identified as 55-year-old Sixto Martinez, approached him and asked if he could take a picture with him. Theman consented, and they took a photo together using Martinez's phone.
After the photo, the man says, Martinez told him it was his birthday and asked him for a dollar (Oklahoma County jail records show the Martinez's birthdayis actually in December). The man refused to give him a dollar. He told police that the suspect responded by saying, "I'm going to give you a dollar,"brandishing the bill, and then shoving it down the front of the man's shorts. He said Martinez started "fishing around," and he jumped back to getaway from the assault. Afterwards, the suspect walked away.
The man and his girlfriend notified security, who "kept an eye"on Martinez until police arrived. When police arrived other witnesses said that the suspect had been posing for pictures with several young men atthe parade.
Police questioned Martinez, who denied touching the complainant, saying he did not like "young boys," but admitted to "tipping" the man.
Officers arrested Martinez on a complaint of sexual battery. As of this writing, he remains in the Oklahoma County Jail on $5,000 bond.
In Oklahoma, sexual battery refers to intentional physical contact for sexual gratification without the consent of the other person. Accidental physicalcontact is not sexual battery. Consensual sexual contact is not sexual battery unless one person is legally unable to provide consent (student/teacheror inmate/jailer, for example). Intentional, nonconsensual contact that is not sexual in nature is considered battery, but not sexual battery.
However, nonconsensual, intentional sexual contact with a person aged 16 or older is sexual battery, a felony sex crime punishable by a maximum of 10 yearsin prison and lifetime sex offender registration.
When the same contact occurs against a minor under the age of 16, it is prosecuted as Lewd or Indecent Acts or Proposals to a Child under 16. Lewd actsis punishable by 3 to 20 years in prison, unless the child involved is under the age of 12. In that case, it is punishable by 25 years to life in prison.
