Convicted Tulsa Sex Offender Back Behind Bars

Tulsa Police arrested a man after two families accused him of looking up the skirts of little girls at a Tulsa Wal-Mart. The man has prior sex offenses in Oklahoma and South Carolina. <br/><br/>News

Tuesday, June 20th 2006, 9:55 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa Police arrested a man after two families accused him of looking up the skirts of little girls at a Tulsa Wal-Mart. The man has prior sex offenses in Oklahoma and South Carolina.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright has details his arrest.

The man trying to hide his face from our camera is David Heard. He's a convicted sex offender currently on probation and his crimes involved children. Tulsa Police say he's up to his old tricks again.

Two families at a Tulsa Wal-Mart said Heard was trying to look up the skirts of their little girls, 6 and 7 years old. And, it was all caught by the store's surveillance cameras.

Tulsa Police Cpl. Brian Collum: "Me and some of the managers watched the video and literally, it really made me sick to my stomach."

Because officers weren't sure what they could arrest Heard for, they had to let him go but refused to let go of the case. Corporal Collum learned Heard was sent to an Oklahoma prison in 2000 for a 10 year sentence for performing a lewd act in front of a minor, making a lewd proposal to a child and taking a child to an abandoned house for immoral purposes. He got out after only four years. Before that, Heard had a 10-year sentence in South Carolina in 1988 for sexual misconduct with a child and a lewd act with a child.

Corporal Collum called Heard's probation officer and talked to detectives until they agreed they had enough to make an arrest. "My biggest fear was I let him go and he does something to a child, then, it's on me. One of the reasons I stuck with it was because I didn't want him doing anything to a child after I let him go."

Oklahoma's molestation law doesn't just cover touching, but also gazing at a child in a lewd and lascivious manner. Heard's probation officer contacted Creek County about revoking his probation.

The News on 6 talked to the grandmother of one of the girls and she said Heard was so obvious about what he was doing that her granddaughter asked why the man was trying to grab her.

Tulsa Police say Wal-Mart employees were very helpful.