Ponca City dentist arrested on sexual assault charges

Dr. Jimmy Dan Highfill was arrested Monday morning on three Kay County felony warrants alleging sexual battery.

An affidavit filled in the case alleges Highfill, a Ponca City dentist, sexually assaulted a woman who worked for him, held her against her will and solicited her for sex.

The affidavit said the woman worked for Highfill for about eight years. The woman said about six months after she started working for the dentist, he started offering her money to expose part of her body. She told a Kay County Deputy Sheriff his offers continued until December 2015.

The woman also stated that on several occasions Highfill would ask her to stay late at the office while he used nitrous oxide gas. She said she also used the gas with him on occasion. She said that on some of those occasions he offered her money for a sex act, but she refused.

The woman said that one time, she woke up several hours later with her clothing in disarray and said she felt as though she had been touched.

On another occasion about three years ago, when she again used the nitrous oxide with Highfill, she said she woke up several hours later. She said that remarks made by Highfill, as well as the disarray of her clothing, led her to believe he had raped her.

The woman said that after this incident, she tried to limit the time she spent with Highfill alone. She said she asked other women in the office not to leave her alone with him if they could.

In another incident about two years ago, the woman said, Highfill asked her to help with a patient on a Saturday. Immediately after the procedure was done, she said, Highfill started using the gas and convinced her to use it with him.

She said she woke up hours later with Highfill straddling her. She said he told her she “owed him” for money he had loaned her. She said she became very upset and he offered her $1,000 for what he had done.

The woman said she refused to be alone with him after this last incident. However, he posted bond for the woman on a charge in 2015 and gave her a ride back to Ponca City from Newkirk and tried to convince her to come back to his house.

Shortly after, she missed her court date. She said Highfill showed up at her apartment and started screaming at her about missing court. She claims he grabbed her by the throat and began pushing her around the apartment.

A statement in the affidavit from the woman’s father said he had worked for Highfill for several years and introduced his daughter to the dentist. The father said he had seen the dentist grope or touch women on several occasions. He said he saw the dentist touch the woman inappropriately at least 30 times. He also said that he had seen the dentist grab the woman by her throat.

The father said he knew the dentist had given prescriptions to two other women in exchange for sex acts and/or money.

According to the affidavit, the deputy also spoke with the female employee’s boyfriend, who stated he knew Highfill was verbally abusive to the woman and that on occasion, he had gone to Highfill’s office and the dentist had locked the woman in the office and taken her phone from her. The boyfriend said the woman had to steal Highfill’s keys after he got high to get out.