Man who told police he killed his wife pleads not guilty
Man who told police he killed his wife pleads not guilty
By Ken Childers
ONL Editor
The man who called police on Valentine’s Day to report that he had killed his wife has entered a plea of not guilty.
Tommy Gouge, 40, was arraigned last Thursday at the Okfuskee County Courthouse, where he entered the plea before Associate District Judge Maxey Riley. Gouge is due back in court for a pre-hearing conference on Thursday, March 12.
On Friday, Feb. 14, Gouge allegedly called the Okemah Police Department and said that he had killed his wife, Stephanie. He told the dispatcher he would be waiting unarmed in the yard of his home on Main Street in Clearview with his three children.
Okfuskee County Sheriff Jim Rasmussen, along with Deputies Tim Rowland and Nikita Muse, arrived at the scene to find Gouge standing in the yard with a 12-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy, and girl who was about to turn two.
“He was just standing there in the yard with his three kids, smoking a cigar and drinking a bottle of water,” Rasmussen said. “As soon as I approached him, he immediately started to confess what he had done. I told him to hold up a minute until we could get the kids out of there.”
The children were placed in DHS Custody and Gouge was arrested without incident and transported to the Okfuskee County Sheriff’s Office. According to Rasmussen, Gouge admitted to bludgeoning his wife to death after an argument over text messages he had discovered on her cell phone.
Court records show that Stephanie had filed a protective order against Gouge on Jan. 10, but withdrew it on Jan. 24, telling the court she did not wish to move forward with the order.
According to court records, Gouge, was charged in January with possessing a firearm after a felony conviction. He was arraigned in Okfuskee County Court on Feb. 11, just three days before Stephanie died.
Gouge was incarcerated from Oct. 19, 2011 until Oct. 31, 2013 for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. According to court records, Gouge was charged in 2011 with shooting with intent to kill in Okmulgee County. Other past charges include domestic abuse and aggravated assault and battery.
Gouge was reportedly a former chief of the “Indian Brotherhood Gang,” a gang whose members are primarily of Native American descent. The gang reportedly coordinates the distribution of controlled substances, collections of monies owed for controlled substances, and the protection by force of other members and their drug-trafficking interests within and outside the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
