David Abston Background

David Abston is not your ordinary suspect. What separates him from many other accused pedophiles is his bank account. <br/><br/>He owned a Broken Arrow skating rink, a house in an upscale neighborhood

Friday, November 17th 2006, 10:56 am

By: News On 6

David Abston is not your ordinary suspect. What separates him from many other accused pedophiles is his bank account.

He owned a Broken Arrow skating rink, a house in an upscale neighborhood and was seen in expensive sports cars. How did he do it?

News on 6 reporter Steve Berg looked into his background.

When David Abston started his job on the Muskogee Police Department in 1972, he made the modest salary of $480 a month, about $26,000 a year in today's dollars. But he was well liked.

For two years, he headed up the department's new community policing division and was described as a popular and best-known officer in several newspaper articles. In comments that now seem ironic, one article says he endeared himself to local school officials "because of his good rapport with children" and that when he arrived at schools, he "attracts a crowd of children."

The same article said he was leaving the force to take a job with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Washington DC, because he said, "I can't make any money here." But that would change. We don't know if he ever went to work in Washington DC, but that same year, he did begin a long tenure as a security guard for the Leake family, a well-known, wealthy Oklahoma family.

According to newspaper articles became a confidant of Marjory Leake. The Leake family took Abston to court in December of 1998, saying he had bilked Marjory Leake out of roughly $2-million.

There was testimony that he had bought fancy cars, built a lavish home, and sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of Mrs. Leake's Bank of Oklahoma stock, taking advantage of what the family said was her diminished mental state. But Abston said they were legitimate gifts, and the jury decided in his favor, although the judge in the case later wrote â€œAbston's methods were unusual, unorthodox, and highly suspicious."

After 1998, it's not clear where Abston worked or how much money he still had. There are records that indicate he had a home in Florida. And he apparently had enough money to buy the Broken Arrow skating rink a year and a half ago and he owned a home in an upscale neighborhood in south Tulsa.

Abston is the process of selling the skating rink. The new owner says he still hopes to close on that sale on November 30th. He says Abston had obtained financing through the Small Business Administration to build the rink. The new owner says he's changing the name to Broken Arrow Roller Sports.