Roxie Wagers was reported to the police for molesting four girls over a period of several years, according to police. The suspected child molester was caught by authorities in Florida as he tried to escape the country.
Wagers, 71, knew that one of his victims had told her parents what he had allegedly done to her. The girl’s family immediately reported the incidents to police. Wagers, in the meantime, tried to bribe the family into keeping the molestation a secret, offering them $17,000 to remain silent.
Little did Wagers know, those phone calls were being recorded by police.
Tahlequah Police Detective Thomas Donnell investigated the case for nearly two months, after the one of the victims’ parents brought the news to police. He said the case was a challenging one. One of the victim’s claims that the abuse began in 2006 when she was nine and continued until last year. She told her parents about the abuse in November 2012.
“It kind of tugs at the heart strings,” Donnell said.
Wagers disappeared when police got a warrant for his arrest. The suspect was arrested in Florida, trying to escape the country for good. Wagers allegedly had tried to book a plane ticked to Columbia, but missed the flight when police reportedly flagged his passport and froze his bank accounts. He then allegedly attempted to buy a boat passage to Jamaica.
Tahlequah, OK, police worked with US Marshals to track Wager. He was found with $4,000 and a cell phone on him.
Court documents note that Wagers bought bras and panties for the victims and had them model for him. The victims claim that he touched them inappropriately over a period of years. According to Donnell, “He told (the victim that) in other countries, this is talked about, it’s how people show their appreciation. They told me he told them society is the one who’s made this bad for people.”
Donnell said the recorded tapes of Wagers offering to bribe the family to keep his crimes secret make it an “open and shut” case.
“It’s their words, they’re convicting themselves,” Donnell said of suspected criminals. “When you say on tape, they know they’ve done bad, done wrong, gonna get help, let’s keep it between us, it’s priceless.”
There is something very satisfactory in knowing that there is one less child molester roaming the streets , that a victim was courageous and able to tell her parents what was happening, and that various law officials worked together so seamlessly to bring the suspect into custody.