Sand Springs Police: 5-Year-Old Boy Sexually Assaulted At Knife Point

By Craig Day, The News On 6

SAND SPRINGS, OK -- Sands Springs Police are investigating an alleged sexual assault of a 5-year-old boy they say was lured into an abandoned house by his attacker.

While he's being interviewed by officers specially trained to work with young children, police want parents to watch for anything suspicious.

Sand Springs police are stepping up patrols in one part of the city, after a five-year-old boy was sexually assaulted at knifepoint.

"In an abandoned house in the northwest part of our town," said Mike Carter, Assistant Police Chief.

The child was lured there just before 8 p.m. Wednesday, according to Assistant Police Chief Mike Carter.

Officers say after the attack, the suspect left, and the little boy went home and told his mom, who called police.

"It's heartbreaking," Carter said. "I'm a parent and I would be devastated. But the important thing is that we are on this case and we try to find the person responsible."

"Yeah it's, sad," said Michelle Stone, a Sand Springs mother. "Horrible. Devastating. "

Families that live in the area, especially those with children, like TJ and Michelle Stone, can't believe such a terrible crime happened.

"Very shocking," TJ Stone said. "I mean that kind of thing just doesn't happen here."

Those kinds of stranger child sexual assaults are rare. The last one reported to police in Sand Springs was in January of 2006.

"You always have to be on guard," Carter said. "It's not the day and age that you and I grew up in. There's obviously dangers and predators out there."

Experts at the Juvenile Justice Center in Tulsa, who are specially trained at interviewing and examining young victims, are talking with the five-year-old.  They hope to get a better description of the suspect, described as a black male with short hair, and any clues that might lead officers to him.

In addition to stepped up patrols, police are also taking a close look at the registered sex offender list. They want parents across the city to be on alert for anything suspicious.

"We're very protective of our kids," Stone said. "We don't let them out of our sight. But still it worries us, definitely worries us."

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Sand Springs Police Department at 918-246-2541.