Couple plead guilty to Tulsa child-neglect charges
BY BILL BRAUN World Staff Writer
Monday, September 10, 2012
A Tulsa man and woman pleaded guilty Monday to charges of neglecting five children.
Police asserted that Kristen Swatzell and Cody Minko Miller neglected their children by letting them live in an unsafe and unsanitary home and by not seeking medical attention for burns on two of the children.
The children were age 5 and younger when the offenses occurred, records show.
Acting on a tip, investigators went to the family’s Tulsa residence near Oklahoma Street and Yorktown Avenue on March 22. Officers detected an odor “associated with methamphetamine manufacture” and noted trash, broken windows, limited food and piles of dirty clothing strewn throughout the residence, according to police.
A 4-year-old girl had severe burns on her face and head, and parts of her scalp were missing. A 3-year-old boy had “suspicious burns on his hand and face,” an investigator’s affidavit states.
The Department of Human Services was contacted, and the children were taken into protective custody.
Miller, 26, pleaded guilty to four child-neglect counts. Tulsa County District Judge James Caputo sentenced him to five years in prison plus five years of probation and agreed to review that sentence in a year.
Swatzell, 22, pleaded guilty to three neglect counts, with another count dismissed. She will be sentenced Oct. 22.
Both defendants have been in the Tulsa Jail since May 9.
Associated Images:
Kristen Swatzell
Cody Minko Miller
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