Stillwater man sentenced to prison after decades of child sexual abuse

Sep. 16—Joseph Scott Rood was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections after being convicted of molesting and sexually assaulting four women in his family during their childhood.

Rood had four victims, but only three charges could be filed because the oldest was outside the statute of limitations.

He was charged with three separate cases, in two of the cases he was charged with one count of child sexual abuse, and in one case he was charged with four counts of lewd molestation.

All four survivors took the stand to give victim impact statements before Judge Stephen Kistler imposed a sentence. They have given the News Press permission to use their identities.

Jordan was the first to give her statement, Rood is her grandfather by marriage. She recounted the 12 years of abuse she endured at the hands of Rood, and when she wanted it to stop.

"I said no, I don't want to do it anymore, I want to wait for marriage," she said.

Jordan said she didn't want Rood to be able to molest another child and he shouldn't be able to get out of prison.

"He deserves to rot in jail until he dies," Jordan said to Kistler.

The second survivor to give a statement was Nikki, one of Rood's daughters. She told the court she still has nightmares about the abuse. She didn't remember all the abuse but did testify she witnessed Jordan being abused. She told Kistler she believes Rood should spend the rest of his life in prison so he can't abuse again.

Michelle was called to give her statement next, even though her case couldn't be filed. She is the first known victim and also Rood's daughter. She said when the abuse started she thought it was "normal" She said as she got older Rood was more aggressive with what he would do, and he would make threats to abuse Nikki.

"I didn't want her to go through those things, so I complied," Michelle said.

Michelle was almost 17-years-old before she disclosed her sexual abuse to someone, she said.

"He's a monster, life in prison is not enough. There's a special place in hell for people like him," she said.

The last one to give a statement was Kaylee, the youngest survivor of the family. She was also a granddaughter to Rood by marriage. She was sexually abused for a majority of her childhood by Rood, and spoke of all the trauma she has faced in her life.

She said it was torture what she had to endure starting when she was just 4 years old. She spoke in detail about the time Rood sexually assaulted her and broke down on the stand about what he did to her.

When Kaylee was 16-years-old Rood sexually assaulted her, she said she thought since she was older, and he hadn't molested her in several years she may have been safe.

He plied her with alcohol until she was severely intoxicated, got sick and eventually blacked out, she said.

She woke up that night to Rood assaulting her.

"You asked 'are you awake, baby' to which I didn't respond," she said to Rood.

She told the court during some of the assault she was aware of what happened, but in order to survive she began disassociating.

The next morning she said Rood insinuated that the sexual assault was something she had asked for because she had drank alcohol.

"I protected you, trying to protect myself," she said when she talked about not reporting her sexual abuse.

"You made me fear men who don't deserve to be feared," Kaylee said.

Kistler sentenced Rood to a total term of 40 years, with seven suspended.

Assistant District Attorney Debra Vincent said Rood will have to serve 28 years before he can be considered for parole. He will also have to spend seven years on supervised probation.

There have been four cases of child sexual abuse presented to Judge Kistler this year, Vincent said.

Payne County District Attorney Laura Austin Thomas said her office is pleased with the outcome of the sentence imposed by Kistler.

"All too often victims of child sexual abuse either do not tell anyone what has happened to them or they tell and are not believed," she said. "During the past few years we have been honored to work with a number of adults who have had the courage to come forward and revisit the horror and trauma they experienced as children."

Thomas said she is very appreciative of the Payne County Sheriff's Office and Investigator Rockford Brown for bringing this case to their office.

"We are hopeful the four women who suffered for years from the actions of Scott Rood will find a measure of peace in what happened today," Thomas said.