Oklahoma man gets probation in brutal rape case

SULPHUR, Okla. (AP) – An Oklahoma man has been sentenced to 15 years of probation after pleading guilty to brutally raping and sodomizing a 13-year-old Texas girl at a church camp.

The Oklahoman reports that 36-year-old Benjamin Lawrence Petty was given the suspended sentence Jan. 19 after entering a negotiated guilty plea to first-degree rape, forcible sodomy and rape by instrumentation.

According to the criminal charge, the girl was attacked in 2016 while attending the Falls Creek church camp. It says Petty tied a rope around the girl’s wrists, raped her and threatened her with physical harm if she told anyone. He was a cook for the camp.

Murray County Assistant District Attorney David Pyle says a major factor in his decision not to insist on prison time was due to Petty being legally blind.