(Editor’s note: This article includes details about sexual misconduct allegations.)
Oklahoma County District Attorney Vicki Behenna filed two counts of first-degree rape by instrumentation Monday against Melvin Platt as he appeared in court for her long-pending motion to revoke his suspended sentence from a prior sex crime. Behenna filed that motion in November 2024 after Platt was charged for a police chase and allegedly possessing stolen property three weeks after he had served two months in jail for the assault of an ex-girlfriend.
But with the new charges announced Monday morning, a hearing on whether to revoke Platt’s suspended sentence was continued for the seventh time. Meanwhile, despite the new counts filed against her ex-boyfriend, the first victim who accused Platt of rape still believes additional incriminating information is being overlooked.
Jacqui Ford, a defense attorney who entered an appearance in Platt’s case as the initial victim’s advocate, told NonDoc about the agreement for the continuance, which was struck in the hallway outside of District Judge Cindy Truong’s courtroom. The continuance was granted by Truong and reflected on Platt’s docket later in the day.
Ford said she was not included in the discussion and that her request to move forward with the revocation hearing was declined by Michele McElwee, the team leader for the DA’s Special Victims Unit.
“[McElwee] came out and informed us that they’ve continued the revocation hearing and the formal arraignment until Feb. 18,” Ford said. “So the state did not move to revoke him today, although she’s reporting that — as we speak — new charges are being filed.”
McElwee had said the new charges were coming at a December hearing where Ford asked Truong to place Platt in custody or assign him for GPS monitoring. Ford told Truong that the October 2024 police chase showed Platt was a “flight risk,” but McElwee told Truong she was not recommending the revocation of Platt’s suspended sentence at that time. As a result, Truong declined Ford’s request Dec. 1. Behenna’s spokeswoman, Brook Arbeitman reiterated Tuesday that the revocation was still being pursued.
Attorney ‘can’t believe he’s still on the streets’
Signed Nov. 25 and filed Monday with Behenna’s additional charges, the new probable cause affidavit describes two instances of rape by instrumentation involving a different victim.
Denton Scherman, an Edmond Police Department detective, wrote in his affidavit that the victim appeared to be unconscious in video recordings dated May 25 and June 2, 2016.
In August 2024, one month after Truong had sentenced Platt to a five-year sentence with all but two months in county jail suspended for a 2021 attack against an ex-girlfriend, EPD obtained “a box of digital devices” from an Oklahoma City Police Department detective “that had been turned over to him via [a different] ex-girlfriend,” Scherman wrote.
“I applied for a search warrant for these items an turned the devices over to the Edmond PD Digital Forensic Lab along with a signed search warrant from a judge,” Scherman wrote. “I was advised that there were videos on these devices that showed what appeared to be a woman asleep and not responsive, while her breasts and vagina were fondled. Fingers and objects were inserted into the woman’s vagina with no response from her.”
According to Scherman’s affidavit, the apparent victim was not the same woman Platt had recently pleaded no contest to assaulting in 2021.
“The woman (…) came to the Edmond Police Station for an interview and identified her face in the videos,” Scherman wrote. “[She] also was able to describe the ring the defendant wore, as well as what the bedroom would look like.”
Scherman wrote that the incidents occurred within EPD’s jurisdiction.
“[The victim] stated she did not recall these actions and did not consent to it,” Scherman wrote. “I believe that based on the above facts and circumstances that sufficient probable cause exists for the filing of criminal charge of rape by instrumentation.”
Brook Arbeitman, Behenna’s spokeswoman, provided a statement about Monday’s continuance of the motion to revoke Platt’s suspended sentence.
“The revocation hearing was for a charge the defendant picked up while on probation for (a) 2021 case,” Arbeitman said. “The new charges filed today — two counts of rape by instrumentation — [are] the result of hundreds of hours of investigation by law enforcement and led to the identification of one victim. No additional charges are expected from that lengthy investigation.”
Asked if evidence pertained to a single victim or if investigators were only able to identify one of multiple potential victims, Arbeitman said “police poured through the evidence and only identified one victim.”
But Christy de la Torre, Platt’s ex-girlfriend who reported the 2021 rape allegation that resulted in his 2024 conviction for assault with intent to commit the felony of sexual battery and domestic assault and battery, said she believes additional digital evidence submitted to police involves more women than the victim listed in Monday’s filing.
In October, De la Torre said she had received the trove of digital documents provided by one of Platt’s other ex-girlfriends to police, but she said she only viewed the videos he made of her without her knowledge because she “didn’t want to re-offend one more time Melvin Platt’s victims by viewing anyone else’s videos.”
De la Torre provided NonDoc with screenshots allegedly showing dozens of Platt’s folders and hundreds of his files listing women by names and monikers. While it is unclear from the screenshots what exactly the files depict, they do show the existence of spreadsheets titled “sex tracker” and “girlfriends,” as well as a Microsoft Word document titled “girl list 10 1 20.”
Regarding the videos involving herself, de la Torre said McElwee told her additional charges would not be filed because the parameters under Oklahoma’s Peeping Tom laws were not met and that the DA’s office does not consider other crimes to have been committed against her.
“What do I say? I’m disappointed. I’m horrified. That doesn’t even cut it,” de la Torre said Monday. “They’re basically telling women in our public or in our communities that any man can hide a camera in your home and film as many times as they desire and film whatever they want (…) as long as they don’t sell it.”
Asked whether other evidence was reviewed and whether other individuals depicted in photos and videos were not considered victims, Arbeitman noted that “Peeping Tom” crimes carry a three-year statute of limitations and clarified the DA’s position.
“We review the facts presented to us by law enforcement and apply the law,” Arbeitman said. “The result of that, in this situation, was one victim was identified, and we filed charges on their behalf.”
According to the Oklahoma County Bond Schedule, $100,000 should be the amount of Platt’s new bond for the new charges, Ford said.
“His lawyer (Scott Anderson) announced his intent to surrender him tomorrow on that warrant,” Ford said. “My guess is he will just postpone and never actually see the inside of the jail.”
Ford said she “can’t believe he’s still on the streets.”
“I’ve never seen the state of Oklahoma care more about the defendant’s wishes than the wishes of the victims,” Ford said. “But in this case, it is every time — repeatedly.”
Ford said victims have the right to ask for a defendant’s bond to be increased, however, she said de la Torre cannot make that request because she is not implicated in the new case.
Anderson, reached Monday evening, said he had not reviewed the new charges filed against his client.
(Update: This article was updated at 2:10 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, to include clarifications from Arbeitman about a statute of limitations and the ongoing pursuit of the revocation motion.)
