Former OHP trooper due in court on rape charge

A former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper accused of taking a woman into custody and driving her to Guthrie to have sex appeared in Logan County court Thursday.

Patrick Venable, 27, was charged with second-degree rape on August 13. He resigned from OHP on June 29.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Venable began his shift at 8 p.m. June 19, and his shift was scheduled to end at 6 a.m. June 20.

Venable told patrol investigators he was on duty and traveling north on Broadway Extension when he noticed a car “all over the road.” He said he pulled over the car near the Kilpatrick Turnpike. He said he detected an odor of alcohol and suspected the woman was intoxicated.

The trooper told the woman to have a seat in his patrol car.

He said he began to question her and at some point turned off the in-car camera because “he did not want a DUI stop recorded where he did not know what he was going to do.”

The hearing to discuss the charge with prosecutors Thursday was rescheduled for 2 p.m. October 27.

Photo by Steve Gooch: Defense attorney Carl Hughes, left and former Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Patrick Venable make their initial court appearance in the Logan County Courthouse in Guthrie, Tuesday, August 16.

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