Retired Claremore Preacher In Jail Accused Of Child Molestation

A retired preacher is in the Rogers County jail, accused of child molestation.

Investigators say David Gleason preached for 25 years at Harmony Star Freewill Baptist Church in Claremore before retiring in May of this year.

  Rogers County jail

This investigation began when Rogers County got a call from police in Louisiana. An affidavit says the Louisiana officer told local investigators an 11-year-old girl had come forward and told them David Gleason had molested her when she was nine and ten and she said it happened at Gleason's farm on the outskirts of Claremore.

The affidavit says that girl revealed one of her cousins had also been touched by Gleason and maybe others. It says that 11-year-old girl was forensically interviewed along with a 7-year-old girl, 8-year-old girl, and a woman in her 20s.

Investigators say when they asked Gleason about the allegations, he told them he didn't remember touching the children, other than "goosing" them on the behind. It also says he told investigators he would "take the fall" in order to keep the kids out of court.

He was booked into the Rogers County jail for three counts of lewd molestation and one count of sexual battery. He was also the police chief in Kiefer in the late '70s and early '80s.