LAWTON – Former Ward 4 Lawton City Councilman Jay Ron Burk was charged last Friday with first-degree rape of an unconscious man and exhibiting/ distributing obscene material involving that individual.
Burk, 59, is accused of raping a male who was unconscious, after taking the man to Burk’s home in Lawton following a night of drinking Oct. 13-14, 2024.
The complaint alleges that the man “who had been drinking all night” with Burk and others “was intoxicated to the point that he fell backward out of a chair and subsequently was denied service” at the bar they were frequenting, before Burk “took him back to his residence.”
According to an affidavit filed by Detective Abe .Woelfel, at Burk’s house the alleged victim “consumed more alcohol, provided to him by Burk,” and “passed out intoxicated on Burk’s living room couch.” At the time the man “wasn’t wearing pants or underwear,” the affidavit relates.
Burk “used his phone to take pictures” of the unconscious man’s genitals, the affidavit alleges.
Later that morning the man awoke, “still intoxicated, finding the lower half of his body naked,” according to the affidavit. Also, the man “later described feeling like something was wrong inside his body.”
In the following weeks “Burk told several individuals, in social settings, that he had sex” with the man, and “showed three individuals, in social settings, on separate occasions,” photos of the man passed out on Burke’s couch, Woelfel wrote in his affidavit.
Subsequently the man filed a report with the Lawton Police Department. Woelfel said the man told him he “blacked out from intoxication” and “the last thing he remembered was Burk giving him an alcoholic drink.”
The alleged victim said he “never consented to having sex with Burk” and “couldn’t remember Burk having sex with him.”
The Lawton Police Department executed a search warrant at Burk’s home on Jan. 3 and seized his telephone as evidence. “The phone was searched and pictures were found” of the man passed out on Burk’s couch.
The first felony charge alleges Burk knew the man was insensible when he molested him. Upon conviction, the penalty is not less than five years in prison, life imprisonment, or life without parole.
The second felony charge alleges Burk took pictures of the nude man while he lay unconscious on Burk’s couch, and the former councilman shared those photos with multiple individuals. That crime can be punished with a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $20,000, or incarceration for not less than 30 days nor more than 10 years, or by both fine and imprisonment.
Special District Judge Susan Zwaan set bond for Burk at $250,000. Burk, a member of the Lawton City Council for 14 years, was not in the Comanche County Detention Center at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
This is not Burk’s first brush with the law.
On March 1, 2022, he pleaded ‘no contest’ to a charge of drunken driving, received a one-year deferred county jail sentence, and was fined $250 plus court costs.
Burk was arrested by Lawton police shortly after 2 a.m. Jan. 8, 2022, when officers observed him driving a pickup erratically on Northwest Cache Road. Burk was pulled over and subsequently failed a series of field sobriety tests; he also refused to take a breathalyzer test.
According to a Lawton Police Department report, during the traffic stop Burk initially presented officers with a “bank card” he mistook for his Oklahoma driver’s license. When asked for proof of insurance, Burk spent a brief period trying to read the document – which officers observed him to be holding upside down – before complying with the officer’s request.
Burk also is a defendant in two lawsuits that were filed last year, and are still pending, in Comanche County District Court. He is accused of breach of contract by Arvest Bank and by American Express National Bank.