Left: Johnny James. Right: Kayla Clark (Washington County Jail)
Cops in Oklahoma arrested a father and his girlfriend after they allegedly found his 15-year-old daughter tied up with a ratchet strap to a tree in the backyard of a home between a chicken coop and shed.
Johnny James, 40, is in jail on a charge of aggravated child abuse and neglect while Kayla Sharee Clark, 42, is facing an enabling child neglect charge. On July 28, deputies from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home in Vera, a small town in northeast Oklahoma about 25 miles north of Tulsa, for a child abuse complaint, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.
A woman told deputies a 15-year-old girl was tied up in the backyard and needed medical attention, with “a hole in her leg and lesions on her arms,” the affidavit said. The 911 caller said the girl had been there for three days and the caller was sneaking the 15-year-old food. The 15-year-old girl and her family were visiting from Texas, per cops. Deputies responded to the home and beside a red shed and a chicken coop they saw the 15-year-old girl sitting on a rectangular piece of carpet, leaning over at the waist with a bandage below her knee and a “ratchet-style tie down strap around her,” according to the affidavit.
Cops spoke with a woman who the 15-year-old identified as her nana. The woman at first “did not want to be truthful” and said she did not know about the girl’s condition, according to deputies. But she then allegedly admitted to knowing what was going on but was “too afraid” of James to say anything.
James arrived home and immediately told deputies he tied her up because “she cannot be trusted and likes to lie,” the affidavit said. He reportedly said she was not tied down long, maybe an hour while he was gone. James allegedly told deputies she was tied down on two separate occasions.
“Johnny explained the times she is left outside was to go to the store or church this morning due to her peeing and pooping on herself and not wanting it inside so they sat her outside that way there is no mess,” the affidavit said. “When Johnny was asked, he stated this was the only option to keep her restrained because he did not know what else to do to help her.”
James said he attributes the disciplinary issues to the girl wanting to live with her mother. He also told deputies he “sees now he will need to figure out another solution” besides tying her down.
When police asked Clark about the 15-year-old being tied with the ratchet strap, she responded that “she was taking a shower and did not know anything took place,” and did not see her sitting outside when they left for church that morning because she was too “Frazzled,” the affidavit states.
Deputies arrested James and Clark and took them to the Washington County Jail where they remain on a $500,000 bond. They have a court hearing scheduled for Aug. 9.
First responders took the girl to the hospital. The Department of Human Services will take custody of the girl, along with other children who were in the home, the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise reported.
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