Former Apache EMT to face 76 child sex abuse charges

ANADARKO — Over two years after an arrest warrant was issued, a 62-year-old man is in jail awaiting his initial court appearance for over 70 allegations of ongoing child sexual abuse while living in Caddo County.

An arrest warrant was issued Sept. 15, 2022, for Timothy D. Clauson, of Hammond, Ore., a former EMT in Apache. He has been in an Oregon jail for multiple allegations for more ongoing abuse.

Clauson faces 76 counts, mainly for child sexual abuse as well as first-degree rape and rape by instrumentation, records indicate.

Caddo County Sheriff’s Investigator Chris Leal was contacted by the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office in Oregon regarding a child sex abuse case he was working on. Clauson had been arrested in its jurisdiction and Leal believed he was the suspect of multiple incidents in Caddo County while living in Apache, according to the warrant affidavit.

On Aug. 1, Clauson pleaded guilty in Clatsop County, Ore., Circuit Court to sexual abuse in the first and second degrees, unlawful penetration in the first degree and using a child in a display of sexually explicit content. He received 12 years in prison and 20 years of probation for charges related to the sexual abuse of five children that spanned 20 years.

The Oregon investigators reported the children’s mother came from Chickasha to report the crimes and brought them back to Oklahoma.

Leal spoke with the then-12-year-old girl. She said Clauson began abusing her when she was “6 or 7” years of age while he lived in Apache, the affidavit states. All lived there from 2014 until March when they moved to Oregon. The girl told Leal that Clauson had always been seen as a “god.”

“She said they are Jehovah’s Witnesses and he was viewed as someone who did not do any wrong,” Leal stated. “She said he had a temper and they did everything they could not to upset him. She said he was the type you just didn’t tell him no.”

The girl said Clauson always wanted to “cuddle” with her while he was naked and didn’t want her or her siblings wearing clothes when they went to bed at the home in Apache, according to the affidavit.

While in Apache, she said Clauson would complain about his enlarged prostate and would have her check it and massage it on several occasions, the affidavit states. A former EMT in Apache, he would teach “medical classes” at the home with the children. Instead of CPR, the girl said, he would conduct examinations of the girl and her siblings, according to the affidavit.

Clauson is slated to make his initial appearance at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday in Caddo County District Court.