McALESTER —
A Eufaula man who is already a registered sex offender was set to go to trial Tuesday on rape and lewd acts charges. “It has been continued to the January Jury Docket,” said District 18 First Assistant District Attorney Richard Hull. “It was a joint motion to continue.”
Buck Allen Denson, 45, was charged in July in Pittsburg County District Court with two counts of first degree rape to a child younger than 14 years of age, one count of lewd or indecent acts to a child younger than 16 years of age, one count of lewd or indecent acts in the presence of a minor, one count of assault with intent to commit a felony and one count of threatening to perform an act of violence.
In June, the fourth of those five counts was dismissed, and Denson is set to be tried on the other four counts.
According to court records, Denson had allegedly engaged in an ongoing sexual relationship with two young girls — ages 8 and 11 — from January 2011 until April 2012.
In September of 1995, Denson was convicted in Pittsburg County of two counts of lewd or indecent proposals or acts to a child younger than 16 and seven counts of injury to minor child. Although he received a five-year sentence on each count, he was only required to serve two years behind bars, with the remaining sentence being suspended, according to court records.
Then, in 2007, Denson was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender and received a two year suspended sentence that was later revoked and he was sentenced to an additional two years behind bars.
In this most recent case, Denson is not only accused of having the inappropriate sexual relationships with the two young girls, he is also accused of making each girl watch while he sexually abused the other and he is accused of threatening the girls. According to court records, Denson allegedly told the girls not to tell or he would kill them and their family.
On April 27, Denson was arrested in an unrelated case. He was charged the same day with domestic assault and battery in the presence of a child.
Shortly after his arrest, the two girls came forward and told authorities that Denson had been sexually abusing them. When authorities asked why the girls had not come forward sooner, they told authorities that Denson had allegedly threatened to kill them, according to court records. They also told authorities that now that Denson was in jail, they felt like he could not hurt them.
On May 1, Denson posted a $2,500 bond for the domestic abuse charge and was released from custody. He was re-arrested the next day, on May 2, and currently remains in custody at the Pittsburg County Jail in lieu of a $1,000,000 bond. He was unavailable for comment at presstime today.
If convicted, he is facing up to life imprisonment.
District 18 Assistant District Attorney Wesley Cherry was set to prosecute the case. “I want to be able to pick a good jury and at the end of the day I will leave it in their hands,” Cherry said. “And hopefully, if I do a good job, those two little girls will see some justice.”
Attorney Ronnie May is representing Denson. He did not return a phone call seeking comment.
Contact Rachel Petersen at rpetersen@mcalesternews.com.
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