Wagoner County officials arrest man for child rape

Wagoner County officials arrested a Broken Arrow man accused of raping a 12-year-old girl three years ago.

According to investigators, the rape was reported in 2021 and Wardell Newsome was the suspect, but they did not have enough evidence to make an arrest.

Investigators said they sent the child’s rape kit to the OSBI crime lab, but due to a backlog, it took years to be examined.

They say the results came in just a few weeks ago and led them back to Newsome.

Body camera video shows Tulsa police and Wagoner County officials arresting Wardell Newsome outside a Tulsa store in July.

According to investigators, the victim was someone Newsome knew, and the victim’s family reported the incident in October 2021.

“We forensically interviewed the children at the time and disclosed some information, but we did not have enough material to have sufficient suspicion for the arrest at that time,” said Investigator Jake Carey of the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office.

Investigator Carey says the victim was examined to gather possible evidence, which was then sent to the OSBI crime lab. Three years later, they now have the results.

“The email essentially said that there was sufficient evidence to suggest sexual activity on the part of the woman,” Carey said.

Carey says they got a DNA sample from Newsome and that led to an arrest warrant.

Then they received a tip that Newsome was planning to leave the state and possibly the country, so investigators asked for help from Tulsa police, who arrested Newsome at a Tulsa store.

“It’s incredibly gratifying because a lot of times that just doesn’t happen. We work really hard to get justice for these kids or whoever, and unfortunately without that kind of evidence we just can’t come to the conclusion that we know to be true. So the fact that we got this back from the OSBI is a game changer,” Carey said.

Newsome is being held in the Wagoner County Jail on $100,000 bail.