By Mike McCormick Staff Writer A Wellston man who faced a felony charge of lewd acts to a child under 16, has pleaded guilty to an amended count and drawn a deferred sentence.
The alleged offense reportedly occurred nearly five years ago.
Formal charges of lewd or indecent acts to a child under 16 were filed on April 2, 2024 in Lincoln County District Court against Thomas M. Woods, 46.
Recently, they were reduced/ amended to child abuse.
Appearing before District Judge John Canavan, Woods was advised the reduced charge was an 85 percent crime. As the result of a plea agreement, Woods entered a guilty plea. The court received the plea.
Both Woods and the state waived a pre-sentence investigation and the court found him guilty of the amended charge of child abuse. The judge deferred sentencing for seven years, handed him a $100 judicial assessment, a $100 VCA and court costs, ordered him to pay 991 fees.
Judge Canavan further ordered Woods to have no contact with the victim and he placed Woods on supervised probation with Oklahoma Court Services.
He was told to report to the Probation Office and the Court Clerk’s Office.
Assistant District Attorney Rachel Thompson prosecuted the case and Justin Vann was Woods’ defense attorney.
Woods previously had been bound over to stand trial at the conclusion of his preliminary hearing.
The alleged crime reportedly occurred between July 27 and 28, 2019 in Lincoln County. The victim was 14 years old at the time, the information states and according to a probable cause affidavit the victim is now 17.
The affidavit states the alleged incident took place at Bell Cow Lake the weekend of July 27-28, 2019.