Throughout the following quotes from various news media will be presented in Bold.
Commentary of the Editor of Bubbaworld will appear in Italic.

Maybe Danny Wayne Dickson took a page from the playbook of Coach "Noonie" Red Eagle or maybe he simply decided that "do it yourself" kiddy porn would be fun. In any case, Mr. Dickson will join "Noonie" among the ranks of Okies caught video taping young girls in the restroom. Unlike "Noonie", Mr. Dickson will be spending many long years in both federal and state prisons for his efforts. Evidently Mr. Dickson did not have a "Daddy" with the clout of Mr. Red Eagle.

The Danny Wayne Dickson case first came to the attention of the Editors at Bubbaworld by way of a news report published in the Daily Oklahoman on 5/21/02 and titled "School custodian held on child porn complaint". This report revealed that Mr. Dickson, the 49 year old head custodian at Rockwood Elementary School in Oklahoma City, had been arrested following an investigation by FBI and U.S. Postal Service agents in what was a "sting operation" targeting those persons purchasing child pornography.

It seems that the "feds" began investigating Mr. Dickson in January of 2002 when his name was found on a sexually oriented mailing list. A postal inspector wrote to Mr. Dickson and asked if he would be interested in buying, selling or trading photos involving explicit sex acts. A series of exchanges occurred between the undercover inspector and Dickson culminating with Dickson ordering three video tapes involving 8-10 year olds involved in sexual activity.

The tapes were delivered to Dickson's home on 5/20/2002. Before the FBI and Postal Inspectors could swoop down and arrest him, Dickson took the tapes and went to work at the school. Dickson was called to the principal's office and arrested.

Were this where the story ended, there would be little if anything to differentiate it from countless other "stings".
As it turned out, the story was only beginning.

Three days later, on 5/24/02 another Daily Oklahoman report titled "City school custodian faces more allegations" contained the following additional information:

Postal inspector Charlie Thigpen testified that six female students have told police Dickson took them to Rockwood Baptist Church on some Sundays and then took them out to eat. Thigpen said it was at one of those lunches that two girls said he rubbed their buttocks.

That same report also went on to reveal:

investigators found a collection of envelopes each marked with a girl's name and containing a lock of hair, testified Oklahoma City police sex crimes Detective Willie Edwards.

At this point it became apparent that not only did Dickson "like to watch", he may well have like to "touch".

The next "shocker" came in a follow up report by the Daily Oklahoma, dated 6/01/02 and titled "Janitor accused of taping girls changing clothes". In this report it was revealed that as investigators dug deeper into Dickson's background all sorts of details began to surface. Quoting from the referenced report:

Danny Wayne Dickson concealed a video recorder in a bathroom and secretly taped the girls -- ages 8 to 12 -- "disrobing and changing ... clothes"

As a result of this discovery Dickson was charged in Oklahoma County District Court with five counts of causing a minor to participate in child pornography and five counts of possession of child pornography.

The referenced report went on to state:

Police searched his home at 2733 NW 16 on May 22 and reported finding "11 envelopes containing children's hair, 18 paper bindles containing children's hair" and a box of index cards with children's names.

The report went on to indicate that police in conducting searches at both Dickson's residence and a rented storage building had discovered other hair samples, hundreds of video tapes and teen pornographic magazines. Some of the more outlandish discoveries were reported as follows:

Dickson also had children's clothing, children's dolls and toys, "three cases of children's toothbrushes," child-shaped sex toys, two-way mirrors, little girl panties, pictures, still and video cameras and a blow-up doll

The same report revealed that six parents of students at Rockwood Elementary School had contacted the school's principal and reported that Dickson had improper sexual contact with their children. Police also reported that one of Dickson's neighbors had reported seeing Dickson take three 4 to 6 year old girls into his house.

A Daily Oklahoman report dated 06/09/02 and titled "School custodian faces pornography charges" contained a new series of bombshells regarding the case as well as considerable background on Dickson.

Some of the more interesting info provided in the referenced report indicated:

Dickson was employed at Rockwood Elementary School in 1998 having previously worked for the Western Heights School District. Documents found during a police search of Dickson's home indicated that the Western Heights School District had by letter informed Dickson "that his services were no longer needed because of improper conduct", and that Dickson had "resigned" from his custodial position there in August 1997.

Additionally it was revealed that as part of a background check performed in conjunction with his employment at Rockwood Elementary School that his previous employers including Western Heights School District had been contacted in an effort to check into Dickson's work history. Evidently no adverse information surfaced as a result of the background check.

One can only wonder why the Western Heights School District administrators failed to inform Dickson's potential employer of their experiences with him. When a person is informed their services are no long needed because of their "improper conduct" that should be a clue that something is wrong and that this fact should be communicated to anyone asking for references on the person. In the opinion of this writer, the administrators of the Western Heights School District by their failure to inform Dickson's new employer of his "history" are at least in part responsible for what happened at Rockwood Elementary School.

The track record for those at Rockwood Elementary in dealing with Dickson is also nothing to brag about. The referenced report quoted Elizabeth Hepburn the Rockwood Elementary counselor as follows:

Even though the friendliness might have seemed peculiar to some, we never would have thought he would cross the line."

The report indicates that Dickson was in the habit of giving quarters to the children who behaved well at lunch and also gave students candy. It was further revealed that Dickson would also ask kids to come to the school on Saturday and help clean the building. Dickson was also known to take kids after school.

What follows is one of the more interesting revelations of the report:

Parental complaints about Dickson giving students candy and small amounts of money were relayed to Principal Gilbert Oliver as early as four years ago, one teacher said. The parents were upset Dickson told the children not to tell anyone.

Compare that to the following, also quoted directly from the same report:

Oliver said he knew nothing of the concerns until the 2000-2001 school year, when he issued verbal and written reprimands to Danny Dickson about the hugging and gift-giving.

From the two above quotes it appears either the unnamed teacher or Principal Oliver is mistaken, lying or possibly both. We at Bubbaworld would like to be able to inform you that this glaring conflict in claims was investigated and resolved. However to the best of our knowledge the issue was either forgotten, buried or simply not considered important enough to investigate.

The report went on to further quote Principal Oliver:

"I was satisfied that he had held to the spirit of the agreement and had stopped"

In reality it appears that at best Dickson simply moved his activities from the school to church as was further revealed in the referenced report:

Even if he'd ceased giving out treats, the custodian still ferried children he had met at the school to and from church on Sundays. After church, he would take them to fast-food restaurants and snap photographs.

Danny Dickson also lured the children to his home with promises of free clothing, authorities said. The state charges that he secretly videotaped at least five girls as they changed clothes in his bathroom.

A 7-year-old girl described to The Oklahoman what happened on one church trip. "When we were waiting in the van for these other girls, he put his hand on my seat," she said, indicating her buttock. "I didn't feel good. ... I told him to stop, and he took his hand away."

It was further revealed that two other girls had informed Oklahoma City Police investigators that Dickson had fondled their buttocks.

Additional revelations contained in the report indicated:

A few days after the arrest, police and postal inspectors searched a portable building containing rest rooms. During the search, Oliver said, police discovered "peepholes" behind three toilets used by female students and teachers. A crawlspace runs directly behind the holes.

The referenced report further quoted Principal Oliver as stating:

"When I heard testimony about his prior problems," Oliver said, "I began to wonder why it wasn't communicated to us."

Still, Oliver said he doesn't know what else he or other city school officials could have done, since many of the alleged problems may have occurred off school grounds.

Since Principal Oliver "doesn't know", we here at Bubbaworld would like to suggest that in the future when he discovers a school employee giving money, candy and "rides" to his students he just might want to do a little investigating of his own. Likewise, if parents complain of a school employee's conduct toward their children he might also wish to do something more than issue "reprimands", he might actually consider calling upon child welfare workers and police to investigate.

On 8/10/02, Dickson pleaded guilty in federal court to the federal charges involving receiving child pornography. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

On 8/23/02, Dickson pleaded guilty in Oklahoma County District Court to five counts of procuring or causing the participation of a minor under the age of 18 years in child pornography and one count of possession of obscene material involving the participation of a minor under the age of eighteen. Four additional charges were dismissed at the request of the state.

On 9/17/02, Dickson was sentenced to 120 in state prison, the result of his earlier guilty pleas. Dickson was sentenced to 20 years on each count. District Judge Ray Elliott ordered the sentences to run consecutively.

The official docket of this case, is available on the web at State of Oklahoma v. Danny Wayne Dickson

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections data on Dickson is available on the web at Offender Lookup - Danny Wayne Dickson

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