By Patti Weaver

 

  (Stillwater, Okla.) — A former Cushing man has been given a 25-year prison term followed by 10 years of probation for sexually abusing and exploiting a juvenile by recording on his phone acts constituting child pornography, court records show.
    Adam Anthony Barnaba, 51, of Stillwater, who had pleaded guilty to both charges, was sentenced by Payne County Associate District Judge Michael Kulling earlier this month, court records show. After he completes his prison term in the two-count case filed by prosecutor Erica Garuccio, Barnaba must register as a sex offender.
    Barnaba was arrested on Jan. 27 after the victim, who is under the age of 18 and related to the defendant, was forensically interviewed at the Saville Center, according to an affidavit by Stillwater Police Detective Mary Kellison.
    The youth disclosed that Barnaba said, “This is their little secret, and if (the youth) told anyone, he (Barnaba) would knock (the youth) unconscious,” the affidavit said. The youth felt “really scared,” the affidavit said.
    An investigation began after the youth disclosed to a therapist “incidents of ongoing sexual abuse,” by Adam Barnaba, the affidavit said.
    During an interview on Jan. 27 by Stillwater police, “Adam advised me this is the only time he has done something like this. Adam acknowledged that he knew that it was against the law to perform sexual acts with a child,” Detective Kellison wrote in her affidavit.
    “Detective Johnson asked Adam if the video he took of (the minor performing a sexual act) was saved to his phone, and he replied, “It is just on the phone in a folder that is password protected.
    “Adam gave me the password and told me it was the password to the secure folder in which he had placed the video on his cell phone,” Detective Kellison wrote in her affidavit.