Child neglect charges filed in starvation case
CHANDLER — Lincoln County prosecutors on Monday filed child neglect charges against four relatives of a 15-year-old boy found earlier this month starving, near death and living in a barn.
The crimes are felonies and punishable by up to life in prison. All four remained jailed Monday.
The boy reportedly weighed 80 pounds, had several broken bones and was suffering from head wounds when district attorney investigators found him July 12. He was forced to sleep in a barn on the family property near Meeker, according to prosecutors.
Authorities have said the boy is in fair condition at the OU Medical Center. On Monday, First Assistant District Attorney Adam Panter said, “We anticipate he will remain there for a while.”
The boy’s father, Jimmy Lee Jones Sr., 34; stepmother, Amy Adkins Jones, 46; and stepbrothers, Jonathan Luke Plank, 20, and Tyler Joe Adkins, 24, are charged with child neglect. All are accused of failing to provide the teen with adequate care, including food, shelter, hygiene and medical attention.
Jimmy Jones is charged with child abuse by injury, as well. He is accused of shooting the boy in the leg with a shotgun.
The boy told investigators his father accidentally shot him in the leg with a 12-gauge shotgun, and he was never taken to a doctor. Several pellets were found in one of the boy’s legs, according to investigators.
Amy Jones also is charged with enabling child abuse by injury, accused of failing to protect the boy from the alleged abuse.
The boy and a younger
sibling, age 4, are now in the protective custody of the state Department of
Human Services.
The boy told investigators he wasn’t allowed to leave the property for about two years. He had been eating sticks, leaves and grass, according to prosecutors.
When discovered, the
boy told investigators his head wounds previously had been infected with maggots.
“He explained his dad had taken scissors to get all the maggots out of the wound before sealing it
with superglue,” a district attorney investigator wrote in a search warrant affidavit.
The boy did not explain what caused his head wounds, according to the affidavit.