By Conrad Dudderar
Staff Writer
Less than a month after being charged, a Yukon man became a convicted sex offender.
Richard Joseph Sharp, 58, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing obscene material at a July 19th hearing in Canadian County District Court. Sharp had been formally charged with the felony crime June 22.
Canadian County Special Judge Charles Gass sentenced Sharp to 10 years, all suspended except the first 18 months to serve in state prison.
Both felony counts will run concurrent to each other, and the defendant was given credit for time served in the county jail.
Sharp, represented by attorney J.P. Hill, had faced up to 40 years in prison and/or fines totaling $50,000.
After being released from custody, he will be supervised by the state Department of Corrections.
Sharp is subject to special supervision conditions for sex offenders.
Canadian County prosecutors charged Sharp for having “multiple materials of child pornography” on an HP laptop computer and a Samsung Galaxy smart phone.
Photographs and videos containing the child pornography were found June 16 on both devices, according to a probable cause affidavit signed by Canadian County Sheriff’s Sgt. David Cates.
STARTS WITH A ‘CYBERTIP’
The Canadian County Sheriff’s Office investigations unit had received a “cybertip” from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Sgt. Cates, a member of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation task force for Internet Crimes Against Children, reviewed media files that Sharp had uploaded and sent via a messaging app that contained images of child pornography.
Those images showed children between the approximate ages of 5 and 12 years.
The sheriff’s investigator tracked the suspect’s IP address to Sharp’s home in the 3800 block of Mathew Drive in Yukon.
Sgt. Cates served a search warrant June 16 to “collect all electronic storage devices.”
Cates interviewed Sharp, who admitted to being on the Kik application, as well as sending and receiving media files containing the child porn.
He admitted there were images and videos on his laptop and cell phone inside the home.
Sharp was arrested and booked at 11:14 p.m. June 16 into the Canadian County Jail.
Now that he’s been convicted, he will be transferred to state prison to serve his sentence.
