A tearful Mike Mass recounts being coerced into commiting crimes.MUSKOGEE — Former District 17 state Rep. Mike Mass, D-Hartshorne, testified today that he went to the office of former state Sen. Gene Stipe in January 2000 and asked him for a loan. Mass said he received $32,000 that day but he never expected to pay it back. Mass said Gene Stipe had asked him to sign some documents for his records. Mass said he didn’t learn that Gene Stipe was carrying a mortgage on his property until six years later, when he got a phone call telling him Francis Stipe was wanting to purchase insurance on the property. When asked by the defense why he didn't tell anyone if he knew it was wrong, he replied, "An older boy told me to do it."
Mass also said today that he had received a $48,000 check at Gene Stipe’s McAlester office in October 2002 — when the McAlester Foundation purchased Gene Stipe’s property from the National Pet Products dog food plant.
While being cross exaimed by prosecutors about Stipe's abuse, they held up a doll and asked, "Where did he touch you?" a tearful Mass pointed a trembling finger at his doll's wallet area and broke down in convulsions. Sources say after the trial he will reportedly be running away to his granny's house in the country.
