Man arrested after birthday party yeilds allegations of rape, underage drinking

Jailed father has lengthy history of rape and assault allegations
By Alicia Evarista Cruz
Senior writer
Theblackurbantimes.com

This month, a local Marine was arrested in Camp Lejeune and charged with statutory rape, taking indecent liberties with a child, six counts of contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile and possession of a controlled substance.
Staff Sergeant Christopher William Oden, age 36, was arrested after the Onslow County Sherriff’s Department investigated his alleged actions at a birthday party he threw for his 14 year-old son in November. Detectives say that Oden allowed several teens to consume alcohol, get drunk, coerced them into having sex and then filmed them with cell phone and camera. He is also accused of deflowering a 13 year-old girl.
Oden, a 12 year veteran of the United States Marines, is no stranger to Onslow County detectives. They have investigated “numerous allegations of rape, assault and assault on a female” against Oden dating back to 1997.
In 2002 a 19 year-old Hubert, N.C. woman accused Oden and his brother of raping her and then photographing her. No criminal charges were ever filed against Oden or his brother in that incident.
In 2007, a complainant stated that Oden “on several occasions has touched me inappropriately by grabbing my leg and thrusting his pelvic region against me.” The complainant also stated that Oden nicknamed his private parts “Odog.”
Oden is currently being held in the Onslow County jail under an $110,500 bond. He was arrested December 12 and has a court date set for January 8.
The mother of a 15 year-old girl came forward and stated that Oden had approached her daughter this past summer and asked her to ride on his motorcycle. When the girl told him she was only 15, the mother states that Oden allegedly said, “I don’t care.”

Needless to say, many people in the area are up in arms over this. One of the most interesting comments I heard was, “With all the complaints against this man, why wasn’t he arrested years ago?”
Okay, first off let me give you an example that should answer this question:
Let’s say your son has been accused of sexually harassing or improperly touching a female on three occasions. Add to that, the past two relationships he had were tumultuous to put it nicely and the girlfriend before that had a restraining order against him after he pushed her during an argument. When you lived in Texas he was accused of touching the neighbor’s niece. Once, four years ago he was accused of date rape.
Now many of us have that “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” mentality and in this case, it may be justified. All these accusations and no arrest. Is he guilty? Is he the victim of really bad luck? Or is he a victim of a bunch of crazy women?
No one knows but his accusers, him and God.
If you agreed that while the allegations against your son were quite suspect yet you believed in his innocence, would you, for the sake and sanity of his accusers and their families allow him to be arrested, plead guilty and serve time in jail? Better question, would you yourself do the above for the sake of the accusers and simply to make the charges “go away”?
I’m not a betting woman, but I feel safe betting my paycheck that your answers are “Hell no! I’m innocent until proven guilty! I don’t care if 56 people come out of the woods claiming I molested, raped or sexually harassed them! This is America and I have a right to a fair trial!”
The police are law enforcers. They are investigators. They can only – or they’re supposed to only go based upon solid information – go on facts and evidence. If there are neither, usually, they meet a dead end.
Rape being the sensitive and traumatizing issue that it is, is often the hardest crime to prove and prosecute. Victims are embarrassed, traumatized and often afraid of being disbelieved so they suffer in silence.
Men who abuse (in any fashion) are predators. They don’t lie in wait in the legal sense but in the emotional and mental sense. They stalk you with your permission except you don’t really know you’re being stalked. They come off extremely charming, generous and seem to be a lot of fun.
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