Tulsa Man Asking For Release From Jail After Beating

Monday, January 13th 2014, 8:29 pm

By: News On 6

A Tulsa man is pleading to be released from jail after being charged with assault, but not because he's innocent.

He says he beat up a 24-year-old man because he was sending inappropriate text messages to his 16-year-old daughter.

1/12/14 Related Story: Tulsa Police: Protective Papa Greets Visitor With Brass Knuckles

The man believes what he did was justified and said even officers told him, they'd do the same thing.

Jermaine Clemons said he became enraged after reading inappropriate texts his daughter was receiving from her youth pastor.

Clemons said he took over the texting and when the youth pastor arrived at midnight on Saturday, believing the girl was home alone, he confronted him.

He admits he's been in trouble with the law before, but, says he's been working 12 hour shifts trying to support six kids.

Clemons said he has talked to his kids about predators in the past, but was stunned when he felt one was actually talking to his daughter.

The text messages weren't sexual but the 24-year-old man was trying hard to convince her she was legal and not too young for him.

"I went through her texts, getting more mad with every text I read," Clemons said.

He said he took over the messaging and led the pastor to believe the girl would be home alone Saturday night.

The pastor lives only a block away, according to Clemons, so he walked over to their home, where Clemons confronted him.

"I walked into my house and seen him sitting on the couch and I asked him, ‘Who are you? Who are you here for?' He said I'm here for your daughter. I said, ‘You know how old she is? How old are you?'

He said 17. ‘Dude, you're lying, I have the texts here telling her how old you are, that you're eight years older and she's totally legal for you.'"

That's when the man stood up and Clemons said he grabbed some brass knuckles that were on a table and beat him.

Clemons then called police and said, come get this predator out of my house.

"They handcuffed him, put him in an ambulance, thought it was a done deal, they were congratulating me on it, ‘I'm a father, I'm a mother, I would've did the same thing,' but here I am, sitting in handcuffs, fighting for my life now."

He says the officers told him the man hadn't broken a law yet, but Clemons says he didn't want to wait until his daughter was raped or kidnapped or even killed.

"What dad wouldn't have done it? I mean, what dad wouldn't have done it? I'm here for my kids. If I can't protect my kids, who can," Clemons said.

Tulsa police say if you see inappropriate communications, notify police immediately.

Police said the man Clemons beat, had to have brain surgery Sunday, but is expected to recover.

Sex crimes detective say they will try to examine the girl's phone to see if the text messages constitute any type of crime.