Minco, Oklahoma

From Tulsa’s The Native American Times of February 23, 2006

Police: Man masquerading as BIA agent attempts to intimidate rape victim

Suspect’s story crumbles because of Delaware cop’s son

A bizarre story out of a small Oklahoma town involving a phony Bureau of Indian Affairs office, an attempted sexual assault that sees the victim firing a gun at her alleged attacker, and two men- including the victim’s husband-arrested on a total of six separate charges.

“It’s a pretty wild set of circumstances,” Minco Police Chief Tommy “Gus” Handke tells the Native American Times.

The case began the evening of Feb. 19 with Thomas Gibson visiting the Minco home of William Patchell and his wife.

According to police, Patchell, 26, accused his wife of flirting with Gibson during the evening and began to choke her. She was able to get Patchell to leave, only to see Gibson come into the room in his underwear, intent on sexually assaulting her.

“She was resisting him and telling him to stop,” Handke said. “He rolled her onto her stomach and pinned her to the bed. When he did that she was able to get to a loaded .22- caliber pistol and fire one shot.”

The bullet missed Gibson and lodged into a wall. By this point William Patchell had rushed back into the room and, according to police, began helping Gibson wrestle the gun away from his wife. The wife then locked herself into a closet, emerging later to phone police. Handke took the call.

“I made contact with the victim and she was really shaken up. She said, ‘Gus, I’m scared to death of [Gibson].’ He had told her he was a BIA officer.”

Handke says Gibson threatened to use his authority as a BIA agent to get the victim in trouble if she reported what had happened.

Handke tracked Gibson down, describing him as being “extremely intoxicated.”

“First he tells me he’s a cop, then he tell me he’s an undercover cop and then he tells me he’s a BIA cop from the El Reno office,” Handke said. “I guess he thought we didn’t know anyone there.”

Handke did. His deputy chief is Gary Journeycake, a member of the Delaware Tribe that has a son working in the same office Gibson claimed to be affiliated with.

“I asked if he knew a Johnny Journeycake and he said he did. So I picked up the phone right in front of him and talked to Johnny. He said he never heard of him,” Handke said.

While this conversation was taking place, Gibson “got one of those uh-oh looks on his face,” Handke said.

After shattering the BIA agent story, Handke placed Gibson under arrest and charged him with several offenses, including sexual battery, assault and battery and impersonating a peace officer. Bond was set at $150,000, which Gibson has since posted. William Patchell was arrested on charges of domestic assault and battery by strangulation. He also bonded out.

The case is rare for Minco, a Southwestern Oklahoma town of 2,000 people that likes to call itself the “best little US town on both sides of the Mississippi.”

“The main contributing factor here was alcohol,” said Handke. “They had all gone out for drinks before and were drinking whiskey when they came home.”