Baby found dead; family says he fell from crib
Tulsa homicide and child crisis detectives responded to a child death Thursday morning.
Police officers were dispatched to assist EMSA at the Sandy Park Apartments, 6301 W. 11th Place, about 6:30 a.m. Medics found a 5-month-old boy dead in an apartment, police said.
The baby was in the home with his parents, his grandmother and two other children, ages 3 and 5, Officer Leland Ashley said.
Family members told police the boy fell from his crib, police said.
Investigators observed bruising to the child, Ashley said.
The state Medical Examiner's Office in Tulsa will determine the cause and manner of the baby's death.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Tulsa elementary school is locked down briefly
Owen Elementary School was placed on a modified lockdown Thursday after someone in a minivan reportedly pointed a gun at students, Tulsa Public Schools officials said.
The school, at 1132 North Vandalia Avenue, was placed on modified lockdown about 11:45 a.m. after someone in a green or gray minivan reportedly pointed a gun at students on the playground, Tulsa Public Schools spokesman Chris Payne said.
School district police and the Tulsa Police Department responded to the scene and gave the all-clear for students to resume normal activities about 12:40 p.m.
Payne said the district discourages parents from going to a school until a lockdown has been lifted.
During Thursday's incident, he said, several parents came to the school to pick up their child, which can make already-stressful situations even more hectic.
"If the school is in lockdown, it is to keep students safe," Payne wrote in an email.
"We don't want students leaving the building during a lockdown, as they are safer inside the building."
- AMANDA BLAND And JERRY WOFFORD, World Staff Writers
Man sentenced in bank heist; 2nd count dropped
A man was sentenced to 10 years and a month in prison Thursday for robbing a Tulsa bank earlier this year, while his attorney continued to deny an accusation that the man also robbed a credit union.
Christopher Alfred Harris, 23, of Tulsa also was ordered to be under court supervision for three years after his release and to pay a $200 financial penalty.
Harris pleaded guilty Aug. 9 to robbing the Bank of Oklahoma at 3037 S. Garnett Road on Jan. 27 and to a related firearm charge.
He admitted brandishing a gun during the heist, during which he stole $4,215.90. The money was recovered, U.S. Chief District Judge Gregory Frizzell said.
Harris was indicted in connection with the BOk robbery on March 7. Two months later, he was also charged with robbing the Red Crown Credit Union at 2738 E. 51st St. on Jan. 9, 2009.
The similarities between the two heists and a re-examination of the surveillance footage from the Red Crown robbery led to Harris' being charged with that heist, Assistant U.S. Attorney Trent Shores said.
However, Federal Public Defender Julia O'Connell said Thursday that she has evidence Harris was in New Mexico on the day of the Red Crown robbery, and Frizzell granted a prosecution request to drop the charge in the Red Crown case.
- david harper, World Staff Writer
Woman charged in robbery scheme that led to shooting
A Tulsa woman was charged Thursday with participating in a first-degree attempted armed robbery and conspiracy that ended with the apparent intended victim shooting two of his assailants.
The intended robbery victim, Jose Cruz, 28, had met a woman investigators believe to be Brittany Sue Carter, 18, a little more than a month ago, a Tulsa County District Court affidavit says.
Cruz told police that he received a text message from her last Friday inviting him to meet her in Room 108 at the Economy Inn at 5609 W. Skelly Drive in Sapulpa.
When he got there, he said, three men were hiding in an adjoining room, and one of them pointed a pistol at him while the other two blocked the door, according to the document.
Cruz, who is licensed to carry a handgun, pulled his gun and shot Justin Marshall, 22, in the leg and LeeDell Kavon Jones, 18, in the abdomen, leg and foot, police said.
Marshall and Jones were taken by Carter and Eric Joseph Courtaway, 21, to the Oklahoma State University Medical Center in Tulsa, where they underwent surgery, according to police.
Both remained hospitalized Thursday evening, and neither had been arrested, Sapulpa Police Capt. Bret Bowling said. Courtaway also has not been arrested, he said.
Carter, who was charged Thursday, was arrested Saturday and was released from jail on bond Tuesday, Tulsa Jail records show.
- David Harper, World Staff Writer
Owasso man is arrested on child-sex allegations
CLAREMORE - An Owasso man has been arrested on allegations that he raped and committed other sex crimes against two 14-year-old girls.
Braeden Paul Hendershott, 19, is charged with three counts of second-degree rape plus single counts of forcible sodomy, lewd or indecent acts with a child and furnishing an alcoholic beverage to a person younger than 21, Rogers County District Court records show.
According to a police affidavit, Hendershott's aunt, Jessica Marie Cleveland, 29, introduced the girls to Hendershott after encouraging at least one of them to have sex with him in December 2011.
The girls had met Cleveland at a Catoosa church, and Cleveland established a friendship with them by taking them shopping and inviting them to visit her house.
One of the victims told police that Cleveland arranged meetings between the girls and Hendershott and that Cleveland bought them the so-called morning-after pill and alcohol.
The other victim told detectives that Cleveland bought a sex toy that Hendershott later tried to use on one of the girls.
Hendershott is in the Rogers County Jail with bail set at $116,000.
Cleveland is charged with two counts of enabling child abuse and a single count of furnishing an alcoholic beverage to a person younger than 21.
She is not in custody.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Separate crashes fatal to Yale man, Ada teenager
A Yale man died Thursday after an apparent alcohol-related crash in Payne County earlier this week, and an Ada teenager was killed Wednesday evening in a motorcycle crash in Pontotoc County.
Dead are William R. Taylor, 48, of Yale and Cody Nathaniel Johnson, 18, of Ada.
Taylor was flown to St. John Medical Center in Tulsa after the 2006 Chevrolet pickup he was driving crashed on private property about five miles southeast of Yale about 8:20 p.m. Monday, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.
The pickup turned over as Taylor was "doing donuts in a field" in the 68000 block of East 68th Street, troopers said.
His passenger, Randy Lewis, 44, of Yale, reportedly was not injured.
Neither man was wearing a seat belt, troopers said.
Taylor suffered neck and internal injuries and died about 4:45 p.m. Thursday, the OHP reported.
Troopers listed the driver's condition as intoxicated and attributed the crash to driving under the influence.
In Pontotoc County, Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene about a mile northwest of Ada on Oklahoma 3W, where his 2006 Yamaha motorcycle crashed about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Highway Patrol reported.
Troopers said the motorcycle hit an unknown object in the roadway.
Johnson, who was wearing a helmet, was an Ada High School football player.
- From Staff Reports
