Oklahoma Funeral Director Lonnie Patterson Convicted of Molesting Children and Other Sick Deeds

Investigators say funeral director Lonnie Patterson is one sick man

Marlow, Oklahoma

Lonnie Gene Patterson, a 49-year-old funeral director, is on his way to prison for molesting children.

"He has a very wonderful personality. Everyone's drawn to him children, adults. They all love him, and he just used that" said one of the mothers of the victims. She said he used his way with people to con and manipulate the most vulnerable - trusting children.

Prosecutors say most of Patterson's sexual advances of young boys took place inside the Callaway-Smith-Cobb Funeral Home in Marlow.

One victim told authorities Patterson also had sexual contact with dead bodies, because Patterson said quote "dead people don't fight back like little boys."

Another victim, a 14-year-old boy, claimed Patterson told him he liked to "play with the genitals of dead people” while gazing upon a corpse. The teen also told investigators he went with Patterson one day to his work and walked in on the former funeral home director "watching a woman having sex with a horse on his computer” and masturbating.

"It's hard for me to trust anyone now. They may have a dark side that we're not aware of," a victim's mother said.

Patterson will have to serve 85 percent of his 20-year prison term.