Woman is sexually assaulted by man who responded to her Nextdoor post, OK cops say

A man lured a woman using the Nextdoor app then sexually assaulted her in a church parking lot, Oklahoma authorities say.

The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office said April 21 that 48-year-old Spencer Gougler had been arrested and was charged with first-degree rape.

The victim said she was on the Nextdoor app in March to look for jobs when she began to communicate with Gougler, authorities said. Nextdoor is a social networking app that allows people to connect with neighbors and community members.

Using a different last name, Gougler offered the woman a job babysitting and cleaning his vehicle, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

After accepting his offer, the woman was picked up by Gougler on March 9 from a Walmart in Owasso, a suburb of Tulsa, according to the sheriff. Instead of driving her to his home, he drove to an “empty church parking lot.”

“(Gougler) told her he was going to pay her to ‘hook up,’” the sheriff’s office said. “She told (Gougler) no, as he tried to sexually assault her.”

The victim pushed the man off her, then she escaped to the back of the church, deputies said. She called 911 from behind the church, and a deputy found her “visibly upset.”

“(The deputy) could hear someone crying and whimpering. That’s how she actually found the victim,” Detective Bobbi Heathcott told News on 6. “When the deputy found the victim she was very scared.”

Gougler was later identified as the suspect, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Records show he was booked into the Tulsa County Jail on April 21 on a $75,000 bond.

In January 2023, Gougler was arrested in a “porch pirate case.” He was accused of wearing woman’s underwear as a makeshift mask while stealing packages, according to the Tulsa Police Department.

This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 1:37 PM with the headline "Woman is sexually assaulted by man who responded to her Nextdoor post, OK cops say."