Sallisaw man charged with abuse of vulnerable adult

A Sallisaw man is facing a felony charge of abuse/exploitation/neglect of vulnerable adult and four criminal misdemeanor counts of abandonment of inform animal after he allegedly abandoned a disabled adult at a local residence with no means to provide for himself.

Earnest D. Harris, 72, was formally charged on July 22 in Sequoyah County District Court and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest the same day, according to Sequoyah County court records. He is now scheduled to go before Associate District Judge Kyle Waters for an Aug. 10 arraignment.

Sequoyah County Sheriff‚s deputy Jeremy Day reported on July 18 that he was dispatched to N. Rogers Street to speak with a reporting party. The reporting party said he‚d evicted the residents and it‚d been vacated since about July 1, but a disabled adult had been left there who was reportedly not able to care for himself. He said the disabled adult‚s parents were allegedly staying at a local motel and the residence was not in living condition.

Day arrived at the residence to find four dogs in the front yard, and the door to the home partly open and missing a door knob. When Day called out to the man, no one answered so he preceded inside where he found the home littered with trash, clutter and animal feces. A couch with a pull out bed was also found with a soiled sheet.

The man came out from the back of the residence and the deputy asked him to step outside so they could talk. Day reported the man was wearing dirty clothing and appeared to have dog feces on his hands. Day told him the house had been evicted and it was unsafe for him to stay there, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The man told Day his parents were staying at a motel but wasn‚t sure why he wasn‚t staying with them. He was able to provide his name and date of birth but unable to give the deputy his social security number. The man said he received disability but his card had broken a few months ago and he had not gotten a new one.

As the deputy was walking to his patrol unit to contact Adult Protection Services (APS), one of the dogs reportedly bit his right calf, ripping his uniform pants and breaking the skin. The man told Day the dogs belonged to him.

When Day asked APS how long it would be until someone could make contact with him, he was told they had five days to make contact and 60 days to investigate. Day told them that wasn‚t acceptable and he wasn‚t going to leave the man to care for himself or release him to the custody of his parents. Day told APS the parents had allegedly neglected the man by leaving him for 19 days without any money or assistance, and with the four dogs.

The deputy gave the man some cold water and called EMS to check his condition. EMS said his vitals were good except for his blood pressure, which was high allegedly due to dehydration. When the man said he was hungry, another deputy went to get him food and Day told APS he was transporting the man to the Sheriff‚s Office where they could meet with a caseworker.

Deputies Jason Stone and Galen Irvin went to the motel to speak with the man‚s parents where they found them sitting under the air conditioning with pizza boxes on the bed. When they were asked about their son‚s disability card and his money, the mother said the card should be under the couch at the residence. When questioned further about the card, the parents reportedly provided it to the deputies. The mother also stated that she and her husband were the man‚s caretakers, according to the affidavit. Stone gave the card to Day at the Sheriff‚s Office and the man was released to the custody of APS.

At the Sheriff‚s Office, the man told an APS worker he was under the impression his card had been broken for a couple of months and he had not been able to use it. He was able to provide his PIN and upon checking the balance, it showed $33 was left on the card. A deposit of $841 was reportedly made on the card on July 1, showing $808 had been spent but he said he had not had possession of the card.

District Attorney Jack Thorp said the abuse of vulnerable adult charge is punishable by imprisonment in the Department of Corrections for not more than two years and a fine of not more than $10,000, while the abandonment of inform animal charges are punishable by a fine of $100 to $500, imprisonment for up to one year, or both, on each charge.