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Jordan

By Staff Reports
Published: 2/28/2009 2:54 AM
Last Modified: 2/28/2009 3:32 AM

Disabled boy's parents arrested in his death

Authorities arrested a man and woman Friday on child neglect charges in connection with the accidental shooting death of their mentally disabled son.

Amber Jordan, 26, was booked into the Tulsa Jail about 11:30 a.m., jail records show. Douglas Allen, 28, was arrested Friday afternoon at an apartment complex near 61st Street and Memorial Drive by members of the Northeastern Oklahoma Fugitive Task Force, Tulsa Police Officer Jason Willingham said.

Jordan posted bond and was released from jail just before 2:30 p.m. Friday, jail records show.

Police said Jordan and Allen were at home when their 6-year-old son, Jeffery Allen, shot himself in the face Jan. 21. He died the next day.

Jeffery, who had Down syndrome, had been playing with the handgun at their home in the 800 block of North Troost Avenue, the family told police. Investigators found that the .22-caliber revolver had been stolen during a Jan. 19 burglary.

The family told police that it was not their gun and that one of the children might have found it outside.

Jeffery's three siblings were taken from the home and placed in protective custody, police said.

Blaze at downtown apartments injures 2

A fire that likely was started by a faulty television injured two people and sent residents of a downtown apartment scrambling out their window to escape Friday evening.

Residents in a second-floor unit of a six-unit apartment building at 328 E. 11th St. were forced to flee through a window about 7:30 p.m., and firefighters rescued two people from a porch roof, Fire Capt. Michael Baker said.

Two women were taken to a hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, Baker said.

The blaze was confined to one unit on the first floor and is believed to have been caused by a faulty television, Baker said.

Eight residents were home at the time of the fire, he said.

The American Red Cross was called to assist the displaced residents, Baker said.

He estimated damage to the building at $15,000.

Fire damages home; faulty wiring blamed

Faulty electrical wiring started a fire that caused extensive damage to a Tulsa home Friday afternoon.

The blaze began about 4:45 p.m. at a house in the 500 block of East 59th Street North, Tulsa Fire Capt. Jeff Blackburn said.

Flames and heavy smoke were billowing from the single-story house when firefighters arrived. It took them about 15 minutes to douse the fire, a fire official said.

Nine people — three adults and six children — were in the home when the blaze began, Capt. Michael Baker said. They escaped without injury.

Most of the flames were in a front bedroom, but heavy smoke caused damage throughout the home, Blackburn said. The damage was estimated at $20,000.

Authorities said the home had no smoke detectors.

Century-old school building victim of fire

TWIN HILLS — An early morning fire destroyed a nearly 100-year-old school building Friday, Okmulgee Fire Department investigator Rick Chisum said.

The burned schoolhouse was part of the Twin Hills Elementary School campus and housed classes for students from pre- kindergarten through second grade.

The building was the community's original schoolhouse and would have been 100 years old in March, Chisum said.

Constructed of native brown sandstone, the building was 200 feet long and about 50 feet wide.

The school district also has four newer buildings and a gymnasium, he said. About 300 students are enrolled in the district.

Chisum said the fire is believed to have started about 7:30 a.m.

No students or staff members were present because the school was on spring break Friday, Chisum said.

Twin Hills is a rural community north of Morris and about 30 miles south of Tulsa.

Chisum said firefighters were still monitoring hot spots Friday afternoon.

He said the building is a total loss.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the state Fire Marshal's Office, Chisum said. Officials said the blaze appears to have started in the principal's office.

B'ville man charged with child abuse

BARTLESVILLE — A Bartlesville man who was convicted in 2004 of felony child abuse has been arrested again on similar allegations that he injured a boy.

Bail was set at $20,000 for Gunther Gary Alvermann, who is charged in Washington County with abuse after he allegedly struck an 11-year-old boy in the face Monday while wearing a ring, leaving bruising.

School officials noted the bruise and investigated.

Alvermann reportedly spanked the boy with a belt and struck him in the face, explaining later to police that he was upset about the child's "lying" to his parents, records show.

The charge maintains that Alvermann used "unreasonable force" in punishing the child.

Alvermann was charged in 2003 with felony child abuse on allegations that he beat his children with a "plastic stick used to hook up window blinds," court records show.

An investigation revealed that a 10-year-old child and a 2-year-old child each had 2-inch-long bruises.

Alvermann pleaded no contest to the 2003 charges and received a two-year deferred sentence and unsupervised probation.

At Alvermann's arraignment on the new charge this week, he was ordered to have no contact with the children.

County official's wife gets 5-year probation

The wife of a Delaware County commissioner who was convicted of stealing from her employer was handed a five-year probation and ordered to pay $40,000 in restitution.

Michelle Crowder, 41, of Grove pleaded guilty in January in McDonald County, Mo., to one count of stealing, a class B felony.

She has a month short of five years to pay restitution to Roper Gas Company in South West City, Mo., prosecutor Janice Lynne Durbin said.

Crowder confessed in 2005 to stealing between $30,000 and $40,000 from Roper Gas for her own use.

The money was repaid, and company officials declined to press charges, court records show.

Company officials estimated the amount involved in the current case to be about $64,000, records show.

But Crowder's husband, Delaware County District One County Commissioner Kenneth Crowder, offered to pay $35,000 if company officials "would keep it quiet like they did the last theft," court records state.

Execution May 5 for Cleveland County killer

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday scheduled a May 5 execution for Cleveland County killer Donald Gilson, 48.

Gilson was sentenced to death for the 1995 fatal beating of his girlfriend's 8-year-old son, Shane Coffman.

Coffman's body was found Feb. 9, 1996, in a freezer behind Gilson's trailer in Newalla.

Investigators believe that the boy died about Aug. 17, 1995.

A medical examiner's report showed that he suffered multiple fractures to the face and body.

The boy's mother, Bertha Jean Coffman, is serving a no-parole life sentence for her role in the slaying. By Staff Reports

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Sarge776, Tulsa (2/28/2009 7:16:30 AM)

I think the parents should be looked at a little harder as to where the gun came from. They said their son found it outside their home but yet, now that he is dead, there is no way to find that out. Maybe some DNA or fingerprints could help the police determine if the parents were involved in the burglary. They both look so capable of being able to raise a son, much less a disabled one.

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Ignatz, Broken Bow (2/28/2009 1:37:33 PM)

Just happened to find a loaded handgun, huh? Probably this guy is a convicted felon who won't cop to the gun. Some people should absolutely not be allowed to breed.

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