Judge in Oklahoma church camp case has accepted other pleas

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A newspaper has found that an Oklahoma judge who approved probation for a man who admitted to raping a 13-year-old Texas girl at a church camp has approved similar plea agreements for other accused sex offenders who also received probation.

Marshall County District Judge Wallace Coppedge accepted a deal in which a cook was sentenced in January to 15 years of probation after pleading guilty to raping and sodomizing the girl at the Falls Creek church camp.

The Oklahoman reports that records show Coppedge presided over seven other cases in which a sex offender received probation. Records indicate most outcomes were the result of plea agreements between prosecutors and defense attorneys because of problems that arose after the cases were filed.

Coppedge didn’t return telephone calls to the Marshall County courthouse seeking comment.