Gary Young has sixth court date

A former Kay County school superintendent accused of multiple sex offenses has had his sixth court date since he was charged in December 2019. Former Peckham Public Schools Superintendent Gary Martin Young, 66, conducted a status docket via phone Jan. 29, a court official told The Journal-Tribune.

The docket was scheduled for 11 a.m., but court officials said the docket was completed before that time. Young is charged with three counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16, one count of causing, procuring, or permitting injury to a child, one count of causing, procuring, or permitting injury or sex abuse to a child, and one count of blackmail.

All are felonies. In court documents, Young is accused of “knowingly and intentionally looking at and touching” the body parts of a child over a 10-year period between January 1985 and September 1995.

The acts allegedly took place at his home, and the victim was under the age of 12 when “many” of the acts were committed, officials alleged in court documents. Young is also accused of blackmailing a female employee of his school district into providing him with “sexual favors” by threatening her employment, court documents alleged.

At the time he was charged, four victims were listed in court records. Young was ordered to remain under house arrest unless he is attending medical appointments, religious services or meetings with his attorney in Oklahoma City.

He wears an ankle monitor and is restricted from entering the town of Peckham. He was also ordered to take an in-home alcohol monitoring test each day, and he must check-in daily with Alternative Sentencing Solutions, the company tracking his ankle monitor. By court order, Young may not have any contact with any of the victims listed in court documents. He can’t have contact with any witnesses except for his wife, who lives in the home with him.

He’s also barred from having contact with employees of the Peckham Public School District. The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted to suspend Young’s teaching and superintendent certifications in August 2019 after multiple individuals accused Young of making lewd comments and unwanted sexual advances toward them, according to state officials.

Brad Clark, an attorney for the Oklahoma Department of Education, alleged in an application for an administrative complaint against Young that the superintendent “has sexually assaulted adults and minors, groomed minors for sexual abuse and unfairly compensated teachers in ex-change for sexual relationships.” Young made his initial court appearance Dec. 18, 2019, before Judge Jennifer Brock. Young paid a $50,000 bond and was placed under house arrest. Young’s next court date is at 1:30 p.m. on May 6, online court records show.