Sallisaw man charged with child neglect

AMIE

A Sallisaw man has been charged with a felony count of child neglect after reportedly failing to protect and supervise a child under the age of 5, and providing the child with unsafe living conditions.

Joshua Hutchinson Jr., 23, was charged Aug. 30 in Sequoyah County District Court and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest the same day, according to court records. He received a $15,000 bond and is now set for a Sept. 7 arraignment before Associate District Judge Kyle Waters.

Sallisaw Police officer Joshua Rogers reported on April 28 he was dispatched to Don‚s Mobile Homes in reference to a small child that had shown up in someone‚s yard. There, he spoke with a woman who was holding the child, The woman said she is employed by Department of Human Services and she‚d found the child a little after 11 a.m. playing in her yard.

The woman said a neighbor told her the child had been running around outside for about an hour before the woman found her, ac- cording to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case. The officer and woman tried to find which residence the child belonged to and eventually a neighbor led them to a mobile home where they believed the child lived.

The officer announced himself, and knocked and rang the door bell to the residence but received no response from anyone inside. He reported the front door was open and only the glass door was closed. When two other officers arrived on the scene, the three went inside to find Hutchinson in a south room of the mobile home and questioned him about where the child was.

According to Hutchinson, the child was inside the home and being watched by a family member. When the officer asked him the last time he had seen the child, he said about 2 a.m. He said his wife had left for work between 5 and 6 a.m. and that she usually left the bedroom door open so the child could get in bed with him.

The officer reported as he was speaking with Hutchinson, he noticed the floor was covered in trash and animal feces, and there were two small dogs reportedly living in the home. Hutchinson showed them around the residence and each room was reportedly covered in trash and animal feces. He also claimed the house was dirty because he had been out of town for the weekend and had let a family member stay at the residence.

Two other officers and a DHS worker arrived at the residence to interview Hutchinson. The DHS worker then asked to be carried from room to room because they didn‚t want to step in dog feces, according to the probable cause affidavit.

District Attorney Jack Thorp said the crime is punishable by imprisonment in the custody of the Department of Corrections not exceeding life imprisonment, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000, or both fine and imprisonment.