In December 2021, Moriah Norman entered an Edmond massage parlor she had previously visited for a scheduled 90-minute session. While the appointment began as usual, near its end, the routine massage became a traumatic sexual assault that left Norman afraid for her life and wondering if she would ever see her husband or children again.
Norman recalled that Jeremy McMullen — who was convicted of rape and sexual battery in 2024 after his cosmetology license was revoked in 2022 — quipped that he hoped he “wasn’t too straightforward.” Grappling with what had just happened, Norman went to the bathroom to compose herself. McMullen, who had massaged Norman previously without incident, walked Norman to her vehicle, and she called the police as soon as possible. While Norman said her initial interactions with Edmond Police Department officers left her feeling safe and supported, her experience soon soured.
In December 2024, Norman spoke at the YWCA “Women Who Care, Share” luncheon as the keynote guest and publicly criticized EPD detectives’ handling of sexual assault cases, including accusations the department had released personal information identifying other rape victims and had deprived victims of protections guaranteed under House Bill 2546, which took effect in November 2021, a month before Norman’s assault.
During interviews for the investigations of their respective assaults, Norman and other rape survivors in Edmond said EPD did not inform them of the rights granted to victims under HB 2546, also known as the Sexual Assault Victims’ Right to Information Act. In other cases, they said information like full names and addresses were released in police reports regarding their assaults.
The Edmond Police Department did not provide a direct response to Norman’s claims.
“While we completely understand the interest in this topic, and specifically Ms. Norman’s victimization, we do not believe responding to Ms. Norman’s comments would be productive or beneficial,” EPD public information specialist Emily Ward said. “Ms. Norman was the victim of a terrible crime. We wouldn’t want comments from anyone representing EPD to detract or distract from the trauma that she has endured and will always live with.”
Norman criticized the EPD response to issues raised in her keynote speech.
“I believe it would not be productive to their image, but I do believe it would be productive for the community to know how their police department handles sexual assault. I have opened up about my experience to the public in hopes of having meaningful conversation, accountability and providing awareness to the hardships victims face when reporting to police,” Norman told NonDoc. Â “I have done this as I believe it would be productive and beneficial to not only me and other victims of sexual assault in Edmond, but also the general public.”
In her keynote speech, Norman claimed a “culture of disbelief” creates barriers to victims in Edmond when reporting sexual assaults. She said EPD detectives’ actions that she characterizes as “dismissive” and the potential privacy breaches could prevent other victims from feeling safe reporting sexual assaults, creating a chilling effect for what is already one of America’s most underreported crimes, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center. And while her own case eventually resulted in an arrest and conviction, Norman said too often the onus is on victims to push for their cases to be resolved.
Victims: Interactions included privacy breaches, violated HB 2546
While Norman said the EPD patrol officers who first responded to her assault did an “excellent” job consoling her after the traumatic event, she felt increasingly disregarded and “disbelieved” by the detectives who later handled her case, a sentiment other sexual assault victims shared.
“They asked my husband during his interview if I had ever made things up before, or if we had had any previous marital issues or unfaithfulness. They disbelieved me at every turn during our meeting,” Norman said.
Moriah Norman’s husband, Jonathan, confirmed that EPD detectives asked whether his wife previously fabricated similar stories or was known to “overreact.”
“I was trying to get an idea of what happened to Moriah, since Moriah had not told (me). I asked whether it was merely touching or whether it could’ve been a misunderstanding. I believe I was in denial about the whole thing and didn’t want it to be true,” Jonathan Norman said. “They told me what Moriah alleged was more serious than that. As far as I recall, they asked me if we had previous incidents like this in our marriage or whether Moriah was known to overreact or make things up. It felt like they were asking if Moriah had ever been unfaithful to me. I was confused that they did not arrest the man that night and asked them if I should find somewhere safe for my family. They told me he didn’t seem like the violent or retaliatory type. I found that response odd at the time, since the man had just committed a violent act against my wife.”
Before his arrest, Norman said people had reported at least four other incidents of “inappropriate touching” by McMullen to EPD, causing Moriah and Jonathan Norman to question why he was still practicing massage in 2021. McMullen also had a conviction for felony domestic abuse in 2017 and a 2010 dropped charge of assault and battery after a witness failed to appear.
McMullen was convicted in October after making an Alford Plea, wherein a defendant accepts their conviction but maintains their innocence. Court documents show he later attempted to rescind the Alford Plea, stating he felt “pressured and lacked time to make a full informed decision.” The motion was denied by Oklahoma County District Court Judge Amy Palumbo, who found the plea was entered “knowingly and voluntarily.” McMullen was sentenced to 14 years in prison with six years suspended, and he faces a projected release date of 2036, according to a Department of Corrections spokeswoman. (McMullen’s sentence had been entered into the DOC system incorrectly prior to the publication of this article.)
Ward, the EPD public information officer, said EPD bases its arrest decisions “on probable cause, regardless of the crime.”
Pending case
Another former Edmond massage therapist, Daniel Binkley, was charged with rape in September 2023 and had his license revoked two months later. A victim in the case also alleges that EPD detectives did not explain their right to have a victim advocate present during interviews. Because Binkley is set to be arraigned June 18, the victim asked not to be named in this article.
“Related to crimes including domestic and sexual assaults, we pursue evidence-based prosecution. We base arrests on the totality of the circumstances which is supported by the evidence. Often, the [district attorney’s] office is consulted prior to arresting someone of a sex crime as they are the entity that prosecutes the case,” Ward said. “The police are responsible for gathering the evidence such as interviews with the victim, suspect and any other witnesses. [Sexual assault nurse examiners] during an exam can recover and collect evidence which is then submitted to OSBI for analysis. The DA’s office has the last word when it comes to prosecuting someone for a sex crime.”
The probable cause affidavit for McMullen’s arrest was signed Nov. 7, 2022, about nine months after McMullen assaulted Norman.
Ward also said EPD might notify a state licensing agency, such as the Oklahoma Board of Cosmetology and Barbering, of criminal allegations “if notification is relevant to the investigation.” EPD investigative records did not indicate whether officers notified the cosmetology board of accusations against McMullen.
Alex Palmer, an attorney at the Jacqui Ford Law Firm who has represented sexual assault victims in Edmond, said some of his clients have reported feeling similarly disbelieved during the investigation process in recent years.
“The disrespect is not coming from the patrol officers, it’s coming from high-ranking detectives,” Palmer said. “I’ve had multiple clients who have reported to me that the Edmond Police Department has been dismissive of their of their accusations, dismissive of their cases, and been treated pretty disrespectfully in the investigation process in such a way that I think the citizens of Edmond would be appalled to hear.”
During their interactions, Palmer said his clients alleged detectives often became “argumentative” with them regarding their cases.
Ward told NonDoc that information about law enforcement’s obligations under HB 2546 is part of EPD’s police academy basic training and field training. EPD Policy No. 9-19, titled Victim and Witness Services, states it is the department’s general policy to “inform victims and witnesses of their rights as provided by Oklahoma state law.” The policy directs officers to provide “information regarding services for the victim such as medical, compensation, counseling, etc.”
Ward said EPD officers also recently received an updated training guide on victims’ rights and refresher training on the topic in 2022. The training guide notes patrol officers must provide certain information on initial contact with victims, including an Oklahoma Victims’ Rights brochure and a Safeline card for “victims of domestic abuse, sexual assault and stalking upon initial contact” with EPD.
Another victim of McMullen’s, Sandra Hodgerson was assaulted in January 2021, months before HB 2546 went into effect. Owing to changing life circumstances at the time and general fear of reporting, Hodgerson said she did not contact police until March 2021. She originally told EPD she did not want to file charges of her own, but if a case against McMullen were to open down the line, she wanted to be included. She eventually heard from EPD during the summer of 2022, she said.
In 2022, after HB 2546 went into effect, Hodgerson decided she did want to press charges against McMullen. She she alleged an EPD detective advised it “probably wouldn’t do anything,” a claim that could run afoul of HB 2546’s provision that “no person, for any reason, shall discourage a sexual assault victim from receiving a forensic medical examination or discourage the sexual assault victim from reporting the sexual assault to the proper authorities.”
“[The detective] said it probably wouldn’t do much good anyway, that the DA’s office probably wasn’t going to think about it,” Hodgerson said. “When I did decide to push for charges, [the detective] had called me (…) and basically told me that the DA’s office probably wouldn’t do anything, that there was no sense in filing, and a lot of it was because he found out that [Norman] and I had become friends.”
The bill also stipulates a law enforcement officer must “allow a sexual assault victim’s advocate to be present during any interview” with the victim. Advocates in Oklahoma are licensed through state or tribal agencies. According to Ward, EPD sources its advocates from the YWCA chapter.
“When I interviewed the day after I was assaulted, I was alone in a room with two male detectives,” Norman said, noting such an experience could be especially traumatizing to women who were raped by men. “I was never given a copy of my rights, so I was not aware that I could even have an advocate with me. I was told no one else was allowed in the interview room.”
House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson, who authored HB 2546 and recently launched a gubernatorial campaign, said the law currently has no enforcement clause to ensure compliance.
“In the legislation, there aren’t any provisions that enforce it. I mean, the law is the law. We expect people to follow the law,” Munson said in March. “I will say that I’m looking at options. I don’t have a clear path right now, but looking at options on what we can do for better oversight. And really, it’s more (about) better enforcement and notification of when those law enforcement agencies aren’t following the law.”
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‘The man who raped us could have that information’
The way Hodgerson and Norman “had become friends” underscored another concern with their EPD cases.
When Norman requested other police reports made regarding her rapist, EPD provided her reports from two separate incidents. As she reviewed them, she was surprised to find the full names and home addresses of other victims unredacted. Norman provided the requested reports to NonDoc for verification.
“If I had that information, then the man who raped us could have that information,” Norman said.
When NonDoc later requested the same reports regarding McMullen’s interactions with EPD, they were provided with proper redaction. Norman said she also received redacted reports upon a later request, after EPD became familiar with her.
Another sexual assault survivor, Christy de la Torre, also said unredacted personal information was released in police reports regarding her assault, which she provided to NonDoc.
Edmond Police Chief J.D. Younger said EPD follows Title 51, Section 24A.8 when considering which information should be redacted in police reports, and he said he had not seen any indication “those processes aren’t being followed” regularly. The statute lists which records police departments must produce for public inspection, including information like the name, sex and date of birth of any arrestees.
Other subsections of the statute indicate a law enforcement agency “may,” but not “shall,” redact segments of audio or visual recordings that “include personal information other than the name or license plate number of a person not arrested,” such as addresses.
Another subsection of the law again states law enforcement “may” redact audio or visual recordings that “identify alleged victims of sex crimes or domestic violence,” though the statute does not mention such redactions in text records like police reports.
Younger said that while he was not personally made aware of such issues in the cases of Norman and de la Torre, human error can occur.
“While our policies are consistent with Oklahoma statutory requirements, I think it’s important to note that just because your processes are solid, that doesn’t mean they always end up being exactly what happens,” Younger said. “What we would hope is that if someone receives a record that they think is either incomplete or not consistent with the statutes, they would bring it back to us and give us an opportunity to at least learn from whatever mistakes may have been made. (…) It’s possible, it happens.”
Munson said victims’ home addresses and full names being released in public records is an issue worth addressing.
“That’s a huge concern,” Munson said. “With that, we could work on some language around ensuring that victim information is redacted, which maybe we — we as in the Legislature or anybody who cares about this — would just assume that information would already be redacted.”
Rep. Ross Ford (R-Broken Arrow), a decorated former Tulsa police officer, said inclusion of such information in released police reports left him “lost for words.”
“I really believe that if it’s not already in state statute that it should be redacted, it needs to be,” Ford said. “That’s personal information. That should be up to the victims to release that information, not the police department. (…) I could see them giving information out without the name, location or pertinent information where a person could be identified as a victim.”
This past session, Ford proposed several solutions to tighten security around sexual assault victims’ personal information, including adjusting language in Title 51 to specify such details in sexual assault cases “shall” be redacted, rather than “may.” Ford introduced two bills related to sexual assault. House Bill 1676 would establish a statewide “sexual assault nurse examiner” coordinator position and another job to ensure sexual assault victims are notified when forensic evidence is found in their case’s investigation. The bill passed the House but remains property of the Senate for the 2026 session.
But Ford’s House Bill 2705 passed both chambers and became law without Gov. Kevin Stitt’s signature. Taking effect Nov. 1, the new statute will require law enforcement agencies investigating sexual assault cases to “inform the victim of the status of the sexual assault forensic evidence from the criminal case of the victim” if they make a formal request for the information. Such information available to victims will include whether DNA was recovered from testing, whether that DNA profile has been entered into the CODIS database and whether there is a “confirmed match” in CODIS.
“This section is intended to encourage law enforcement agencies to notify victims of information that is in the possession of the law enforcement agencies,” the new statute specifies. “This section shall not require the disclosure of evidence, information, or results which would impede or compromise an ongoing criminal investigation.”
With Ford and Munson concerned about the privacy issues identified by Norman and Hodgerson, changes to protect victims’ personal information could become a priority during the 2026 session.
“To be a victim once, and then to have that information come back up over and over again, it’s almost like being victimized over and over again,” Ford said. “I want to make sure we close that loophole and redact any information about where the person lives, or any identifying information.”
After receiving EPD’s unredacted reports, Norman used that information to contact other victims. She said her attorney, Tom Stone, later received a phone call from an EPD detective. According to case files kept by Stone, an Edmond detective reached out to a paralegal in his office on Jan. 9, 2023, and requested that Norman “stop contacting other victims.”
Hodgerson said after she began talking to Norman and forming a support network with other survivors, she was advised by EPD detectives to cut contact to avoid apparent of collusion in McMullen’s criminal case.
“I was told that because Moriah and I were friends, that it was going to look like we were colluding on it, and that that’s how it would be looked at [by the courts],” Hodgerson said. “I was told not to speak any further with Moriah — that I was not to talk to her or any of her lawyers, or anybody else.”
When asked if EPD specifically requests victims of the same alleged rapist not to contact each other to preserve admissibility of testimony in court, Ward said detectives “work with victims, witnesses and prosecutors to provide accurate, admissible and defensible investigations of criminal allegations.”
‘If only I had been murdered’
Other victims’ grievances center on an alleged “lack of urgency” on the part of EPD detectives to ensure their assailant is no longer a threat to them or others.
De la Torre was not assaulted in a massage parlor, but in her own home. In 2021, de la Torre said she was attacked outside her back door, held hostage and photographed against her will by Melvin Platt, who knew where she lived after a past relationship. Platt was convicted of assault with intent to commit the felony of sexual battery and domestic assault and battery in 2024. Platt pleaded nolo contendere — or no contest — meaning he accepted the conviction but did not admit guilt. He received a five-year sentence, with all time deferred other than two months in the Oklahoma County Jail between July and September 2024.
Platt was also charged with kidnapping, burglary and “peeping Tom” crimes that were dismissed by DA’s office, according to OSCN. During the attack, De la Torre said Platt showed her photos and videos he had secretly taken of her and other women “in a braggadocious kind of way.”
The first time Platt assaulted her, de la Torre said she managed to take his phone as he left. Realizing she had done so, Platt returned later and assaulted her again, she said. The incidents occurred in the downstairs portion of her home while her children were asleep in their rooms on the upper floor.
“Several minutes later, and to my stupidity, I did what I do as a mom and as a housekeeper,” de la Torre said. “I was afraid that my children would wake up, so I started tidying the guest bedroom, where he assaulted me for a second time.”
When EPD officers arrived, partially because she had instinctively straightened up the home, de la Torre said she was greeted with immediate skepticism of her story since there did not appear to be signs of a struggle. De la Torre said while she should not have adjusted her home before police arrived, she alleged the officers that responded that night made little effort to examine the crime scene after making contact with her.
“They didn’t believe me, they didn’t take fingerprints,” de la Torre said. “They didn’t really tell me what my options were. They didn’t tell me anything. They just simply asked me one time, are you hurt? Do you need to go to the ER?”
As time moved along with no updates on the case from law enforcement, de la Torre alleged she had to make the effort to find out if her assailant was still out of custody over the course of months. Since the man previously had access to her home and knew where she lived, de la Torre said she felt increasingly concerned for her own safety and that of her family. Despite her concerns, she said she felt as if EPD detectives treated her as more of an inconvenience than a victim.
“Every time I called, I was told that there was a child pornography case that took priority over mine. I was also told that murder cases take priority over my case … and what kind of woman would put herself over the needs of a child?” de la Torre said. “I finally, very candidly reported back to them that, ‘Oh, damn, I’m sorry I’m still alive. If only I had been murdered, maybe my case would be a priority to your investigative unit.'”
Palmer, the attorney who expressed concerns with EPD, said he has received similar feedback from clients who felt they had to take the initiative for their cases to move forward.
“The investigations have just not seemed to be done with urgency. A lot of these investigations have to be spurned on by pushing from the victims, which is not how the system is supposed to work,” Palmer said. “The victims should be cooperating with investigators, but they should not be the ones quarterbacking the situation.”
De la Torre said she still fears for the safety of herself and her children since Platt only served two months in jail for the assaults. And even though Platt was arrested a month later in October for leading police on a chase in a vehicle featuring a stolen license plate, he remains out of custody pending a July 9 hearing before District Judge Cindy Truong, who had given Platt the abbreviated sentence for the sex crimes. After filing new charges against Platt for the police chase, District Attorney Vicki Behenna’s office moved to revoke Platt’s suspended sentence in November. However, Platt has remained out of jail living in Norman, where he is registered as a sex offender.
Asked about rumors Platt was caught with money, a passport and other items that would indicate he was preparing to flea the jurisdiction, Oklahoma City Police Department Mst. Sgt. Gary Knight said he could not speak to Platt’s plans.
“We did arrest him at the conclusion of a pursuit, and he did throw out a duffle bag containing some fake documents and a large amount of cash,” Knight said.
When considering which cases draw highest priority, Ward said EPD detectives have several criteria to weigh.
“Edmond detectives work an average of around 100 cases per year,” Ward said. “Multiple factors inform the prioritization of investigations to include seriousness of the crime, ongoing threat to public safety, viable investigative leads, etc.”
Younger asked Edmond residents who have concerns about their interactions with EPD to reach out directly.
“The Edmond Police Department strives to meet statutory requirements and exceed community expectations in all aspects of our service. Â As a continuous learning organization, we encourage those that have exceptional interactions with our members or identify potential areas of improvement to contact us,” Younger said.
(Update: This article was updated at 9:12 a.m. Wednesday, June 11, to include comment from OKCPD Mst. Sgt. Gary Knight. It was updated again to correct reference to Jeremy McMullen’s prison sentence and projected release date, which had been entered into the Department of Corrections’ system incorrectly prior to the publication of this article.)
