(Editor’s note: The following article outlines allegations of rape.)
An Oklahoma City Police Department officer was charged in McClain County District Court today with four felonies — including rape, kidnapping and domestic assault and battery — after allegedly abusing a woman for eight hours in his Blanchard home after a date Thursday night.
OKCPD Sgt. Ryan Stark was arraigned Monday afternoon on five charges filed by District Attorney Greg Mashburn’s office:
- Kidnapping;
- Domestic assault and battery by strangulation;
- Domestic assault and battery with a dangerous weapon;
- First-degree rape;
- Threatening an act of violence (misdemeanor).
According to court documents, Stark and a woman with whom he had previously been in a relationship went to Libby’s Cafe in Goldsby on Thursday evening. The woman told police early Friday morning that, as she left the restaurant with Stark, things “started to go bad for her,” according to a probable cause affidavit written by Blanchard Police Department Detective Jennifer Self.
The woman, whom Stark had picked up at her residence in his OKCPD vehicle, called a friend and asked to be picked up at the restaurant because the woman did not want to go to Stark’s home in Blanchard.
“She advised he then started to get mad and he started to amp up and was intoxicated,” Self wrote in her affidavit. “Ryan then disclosed about sleeping with other women including [a woman] who Ryan often buys drugs from.”
As the woman and Stark approached his residence in his car, Stark began grabbing for her cell phone and she attempted to get out of the vehicle to run away, according to the affidavit.
“When opening the passenger door to get out Ryan then accelerated the vehicle,” Self wrote. “[The woman’s] foot was already out and it was slammed into the garage. [She] knew her foot was broken and toes dislocated. Ryan then took her phone keeping her from being able to get help. Ryan then pushed her on her broken foot while she [was] begging for him to get her medical attention.”
Self’s affidavit then detailed a series of brutal allegations against Stark over the hours that followed, including that the woman was “held against her will, while Ryan sat in a chair blocking her from existing his room at his residence.”
“Ryan then choked her, squeezed her, spat in her face, spat gum in her hair and rubbed the gum in. Ryan then threatened to kill her several times. While Ryan had her on the floor he put his gun to her head and in [her] mouth telling her, ‘I should blow your fucking head off.”
According to the affidavit, Stark would drag the woman back into the room when she tried to leave, saying he was going to have sex with her “no matter if she wanted it or not.”
“[She] was raped against her will or consent from Ryan while he held her at his house,” Self wrote. “[She] was denied any kind of medical attention, even though her foot was broken and she was badly bruised and beaten from his repeated beating the whole night. Bruises and physical injuries are present as well as the emotional damages that have taken place.
“Ryan also threatened to kill [her] and kill himself as well. [She] advised she was scared for her life and advised she thought he was going to kill her.”
An emergency protective order was approved by a judge over the weekend. In Self’s affidavit, she wrote that the woman “advised it was like a demon had taken over” Stark.
Stark received national recognition in 2014
A 23-year OKCPD veteran, Stark was released from the McClain County Jail on a $200,000 bond. He appeared in court without counsel and was ordered to have no contact with the victim, whom NonDoc is not identifying.
Mark Nelson, president of the Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 123, said OKCPD places officers charged with crimes on administrative leave.
“When criminal charges are filed against an officer, specifically non-duty related charges, the department will initiate the process of placing the officer on administrative leave without pay,” Nelson said in a statement. “These accusations and charges are very serious, and we are sure they will be investigated fully. We respect the due process of all involved and will wait to see what comes of the investigation.”
Stark has served as a K-9 officer at OKCPD and made news and received national recognition a decade ago when he and his K-9 were involved in a high-speed pursuit that ended near Libby’s Cafe when Mark Salazar, 22, crashed and attempted to flee.
Salazar was caught by Stark’s K-9, named Kye. Salazar stabbed the dog, and Stark shot Salazar a half-dozen times, including four times in the back. Kye died the next day. Stark did not face charges for the fatal shooting.
