SWEETWATER, Okla. – Cameron Gladd turned himself into the Beckham County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday. But according to his employment history, he’s no stranger to law enforcement.
“He was arrested and then quickly was bonded out,” said Sheriff Derek Manning, Beckham County Sheriff’s Office.
29-year-old Gladd is not only a science teacher and coach at Sweetwater Public Schools, but also a former Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper. He’s now facing 8 charges related to allegations involving students– including sexual battery and rape by instrumentation.
“Two victims were identified. A 16-year-old and an 18-year-old. Both of whom reported not only inappropriate and sexual conversations with this teacher but also there was some physical touching. Some rape that had occurred,” said Agent Beth Green, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
Court documents show messages between Gladd and one of the students. Gladd said, “I missed you.” The victim said back, “I missed you too baby.” Another screenshot from Gladd said, “God I want you sooo bad.”
The probable cause lays out additional messages that are too graphic to list.
“This began as an investigation with the Beckham County Sheriff’s Office after we received a report from Sweetwater Schools about the initial incident. We then requested that OSBI assist us in the investigation,” Manning said.
While no one in Sweetwater wanted to go on camera, some residents who knew him said they were shocked and hoped the truth would come out in court.
We stopped by Gladd’s Elk City home to get his side of the story, but no one answered the door.
One of his neighbors told us off camera that Gladd seemed like a good family man and the arrest was completely unexpected.
Gladd worked as an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper from 2014 to 2017.
As of Friday morning, he was still listed as faculty on Sweetwater Public School’s website. His photo has since been removed.
According to OSBI, Gladd is currently out of jail on a $500,000 bond. We reached out to Sweetwater Public Schools for comment but haven’t heard back yet.