Four adults in Wellston residing in the same residence with nine children face child neglect charges and one of those also faces a second felony.
The nine children reportedly have been placed into custody with the Department of Human Services until a proper home is found.
Formal felony charges of child neglect were filed in Lincoln County District Court July 24 against Robert Nathaniel Cohran, 34, Vanessa Marie Poore, 33, Courtney Diana Eaton, 29, and Steven Owen Cohran, 32. Each faces one count of child neglect.
Robert Nathaniel Cohran also faces an additional felony of domestic assault and battery by strangulation.
He appeared before Associate District Judge Sheila Kirk and she set his bond at $35,000 with a further initial appearance on Aug. 17.
Each of the other three also appeared before Judge Kirk. Steven Cohran’s bond is $7,500, Poore’s bond was set at $10,000 and Eaton’s bond is $5,000.
All four were ordered to make a further initial appearance on Aug. 17.
In the child neglect counts against each, it states the four defendants conjointly committed the crime of child neglect on July 11 as persons responsible for the children’s healthy, safety or welfare who resided with one-yearold S.O.C., two-year-old A.C., two-year-old H.C., three-year-old S.F.C., four-year-old K.C., fiveyear- old A.E., six-yearold N.C., 11-year-old J.P., and 12-year-old C.B., and neglected the children by failing to provide adequate shelter, having the children live in a home without running water or a working sewer, and littered with trash, cockroaches, bedbugs, human feces and rotten food at a residence in Wellston.
The domestic assault and battery by strangulation count against Robert Nathiel Cohran accuses him on July 11 of strangling or attempting to strangle Courtney Eaton..
In a probable cause affidavit Lincoln County Deputy Sheriff Phillip Bennett states that Deputy Sheriff Christoper Hyde was dispatched for a domestic disturbance on July 11 around 11:23 a.m. but requested another unit respond and Bennett was assigned to answer the call.
When he arrived, Bennett said, he heard screaming and yelling and that he had to separate Robert Cohran and Courtney Eaton.
Cohran told Bennett he and Eaton had been doing drugs for four days. When Eaton was asked, she told the deputy Cohran was choking her and hitting her in the house in front of everyone.
Bennett further stated he noticed the red marks on Eaton’s neck and back.
Bennett said he requested backup and Wellston Officer Ashly Sanders arrived until Hyde could arrive to assist.
Once inside the house, they noticed it was not in proper living conditions. Department of Human Services specialists arrived and along with Bennett and Hyde it was decided to arrest and charge the adults and place the children in DHS custody until a proper home can be found.