Woman charged with neglect after children left in car in Bixby
BY KENDRICK MARSHALL World Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
A child-neglect charge was filed Tuesday against a Tulsa woman who was arrested by Bixby police last week on accusations that she left her four young children alone in a car with rotten food and drug paraphernalia.
Nakeyia Nicole Smith, 26, is charged with a single count of child neglect, Tulsa County court filings show.
On Oct. 23, officers responded to a call about suspicious activity in the 8800 block of East 119th Street.
At the scene, four children -- ranging in age from 5 months to 6 years -- were found unattended in a 2007 Suzuki, police said.
Authorities allege that the children "were left in the car for a duration long enough for them to become worried and seek help from nearby residents, according to Smith's arrest report.
One child was wearing only a diaper. Another was wearing pants and no shirt. The infant was sleeping in a car seat alongside another child in the back of the car, the report says.
Police reported seeing rotten fast food, dirty clothing and an insufficient number of seat belts to secure all the children in the vehicle.
Witnesses told investigators they could hear the children crying and yelling before some of the children began knocking on doors 10 to 15 minutes before Smith returned, police said.
A search of the car uncovered what appeared to be drug paraphernalia that had an odor associated with burned marijuana, the arrest report says.
During interviews with detectives, Smith said she and a friend were separated from the children for only five minutes and that "she checked on her children one time," the report says.
Smith remains in the Tulsa Jail, where her bail is set at $50,000.
Associated Images:
Nakeyia Nicole Smith
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