Blackmail for sex charge filed against Wichita Mountains Estates Fire Chief

A $50,000 cash warrant bond was issued for Wichita Mountains Estates Volunteer Fire Chief accused of blackmailing a woman for sex.

The Comanche County District Court issued a felony arrest warrant Friday for Tom Gaylon Belase, 41, of Lawton, for a count of blackmail and a misdemeanor charge of obstructing police, records indicate. With three prior felony convictions, he faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Belase is accused of threatening to expose the woman in explicit videos to her employer unless she had sex with him, the charges state.

According to the warrant affidavit, Belase called the woman on Jan. 23 and told her to come to the Wichita Mountains Estates Fire Station and provide sexual favors. 

Investigators said when she refused, he disseminated images of the woman in a sexual act to her employer and insinuating she was on the job during the acts. He also sent an explicit video to her boss, the affidavit states.

A search warrant of Belase’s phone was conducted and, according to investigators, he provided an old phone that had been reset to the original factory settings, according to the affidavit.

Belase was arrested by Comanche County Sheriff’s Deputies Friday morning following a firefight of a burning RV at Lake Lawtonka.

Belase has three prior felony convictions in Caddo County: September 2010, second-degree forgery and uttering a forged instrument; and October 2011, distribution of a controlled substance within 2,000 feet of a park or school, records indicate.

A $50,000 cash warrant bond was issued upon Belase’s arrest. Comanche County Detention Center records show he remains in its custody as of Saturday afternoon.