Former police officer accused of kidnapping, abusing woman
EL RENO — An ex-police officer from El Reno has been arrested, accused of kidnapping and abusing a Florida woman he met online.
James Glen Otterbine, 32, was arrested June 12 on complaints of kidnapping and domestic abuse in the presence of a child. He was placed in the Canadian County jail and bail was set at $30,000.
Canadian County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched that day after the Yukon Police Department received a call from a woman who was crying and “pleading to be let out of the car she was a passenger in,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies were sent to intercept the vehicle, which was traveling westbound on Highway 66 toward El Reno, but the call disconnected just east of El Reno.
When investigators determined to whom the phone number belonged, they contacted the woman’s family, who provided information that led deputies to believe she likely was with Otterbine at the time of the call, according to the sheriff’s office.
While deputies were en route to Otterbine’s residence, the woman called the sheriff’s office and said she had escaped and fled on foot from his residence to a nearby bank.
“Fortunately, the traumatized (woman) had the presence of mind to run for help after Otterbine got to his residence, and the pair exited the vehicle,” Canadian County Sheriff Chris West said in a statement.
After arriving at MidFirst Bank, located about two blocks from Otterbine’s house, investigators made contact with the woman, who was in a state of shock, according to the sheriff’s office. Deputies reported that she appeared to be “bruised and battered.”
Deputies and investigators then went to Otterbine’s residence, where he was detained and brought to the sheriff’s office.
According to deputies, Otterbine said he and the woman had met online about two months earlier and began a relationship. The woman reportedly was getting a divorce and agreed to travel from her home in Miami, Florida, to continue the relationship, deputies reported.
She told investigators Otterbine had paid for her plane ticket. Over several weeks before the alleged kidnapping, the woman said Otterbine became progressively physically violent and “had even duct taped and handcuffed her to a chair during an argument,” the sheriff’s office said.
During another incident, Otterbine had “bound and locked her in the basement with the lights turned off,” she reportedly told deputies.
The woman allegedly said Otterbine had threatened her life on several occasions, threatening to shoot her and then kill himself.
Otterbine’s account of the relationship differed from the woman’s statement, deputies said. He reportedly claimed that what she had described “was actually consensual” and that she enjoyed “rough sex,” according to the sheriff’s office.
He reportedly called the episodes “spats” and told investigators that his 10-year-old son had been present during one of the incidents.
Otterbine was working as a Geary police officer until he was terminated by the city council earlier this month, according to Terryl Allen, public information officer for the Geary Police Department. Allen said Otterbine had not actively worked for several months because of a medical condition.
Otterbine is currently involved in a civil suit against the city, Allen said.
As of Monday morning, his LinkedIn page indicated that before working in Geary, Otterbine worked as a police officer for the El Reno and Minco police departments.