A Texas father and his girlfriend will face decades in prison after tying the man’s 15-year-old daughter to a tree in Oklahoma last summer.
Johnny James, 41, and Kayla Clark, 42, were sentenced to 35 and 30 years in prison, respectively, for numerous child abuse and neglect crimes, according to Oklahoma outlets Fox 23, the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, and News on 6’s Lori Fullbright.
According to Oklahoma state law, neither James nor Clark will be eligible for parole until they have served 85% of their respective terms, reports Fox 23 and the Examiner-Enterprise.
According to a Washington County Sheriff’s Office press release obtained by PEOPLE, the duo were detained and charged in July after officials were told of a youngster who had allegedly been roped to a tree while visiting family in Vera, Okla.
According to Fullbright, the kid was discovered when a woman drove by and noticed her tied up. The mother told a 911 operator that the kid had been tied up for days and suffered apparent injuries, including a hole in her leg and sores on her arm.
She reportedly appeared underweight, with scars on her wrists and legs consistent with rope burns, according to the Examiner-Enterprise.
When cops arrived, they allegedly saw the teen sitting on a piece of carpet given to her as a sleeping surface, according to police. According to the investigation, James allegedly tied her to a tree on his family’s property for “over 24 hours” with a ratchet strap.
According to authorities, the teen was transferred to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries.
James informed authorities that he tied the youngster to the tree to punish her, telling officers that “the child has problems urinating and defecating while indoors and if she was outdoors there would not be any mess,” police claimed last summer. Investigators, however, suspect he tied her to the tree as a punishment for wishing to live with her mother, according to Fullbright.
Clark, who had lived with James and his daughter for several years, originally denied knowing about the abuse despite the girl being bound in plain sight, according to court records obtained by the Examiner-Enterprise. She informed officials that she knew the girl was tied up but was “frazzled,” so she did not report her boyfriend’s behavior, according to police.
According to Washington County District Attorney Will Drake, James and Clark’s sentences were reasonable for the seriousness of the abuse they committed, according to the Examiner-Enterprise.
Drake also stated that because the pair pleaded guilty, James’ daughter did not have to relive her tragedy by testifying at trial. Instead, she made a victim impact statement at the sentence that shown “maturity and composure beyond her years,” according to the newspaper.
“This investigation and the conclusion of the cases were the result of a group effort between multiple agencies working together for the best interests of the children involved and to hold these perpetrators accountable for their actions,” the district attorney stated, referring to the collaboration between the sheriff’s office and the Department of Human Services (DHS).
According to investigators, the DHS took custody of both the juvenile and the other children found in the Oklahoma residence last summer.
