One of two people from Stroud facing child neglect charges has pleaded guilty as the result of a plea bargain and drawn a 10-year sentence with all but the first 90 days suspended.
The other has waived further hearings in the case. Jack Keith Wofford, 31, and Jessica Shadawn Jordan, 29, were formally charged in Lincoln County District Court Sep. 20 with child neglect.
They were arrested after an infant was found in the back seat of a car in the parking lot of a grocery store.
Each of them appeared before Special Judge Emily Mueller on Sep. 14. The judge set their bonds at $50,000 each.
On Oct. 10, appearing before District Judge John Canavan, Wofford withdrew his previous plea and pleaded guilty. The judge received the plea, the state and defendant waived a pre-sentence investigation and the judge found him guilty as charged.
In addition to 10 years in the Department of Corrections with all time suspended except for the first 90 days, Wofford was fined $100, assessed a $100 VCA fine, ordered to pay court costs and is to receive credit for time served from Sep. 13 this year.
Jordan made her initial appearance before Judge Mueller. On Oct. 12, she waived any further hearings and her arraignment has been set for 9:30 a.m. Nov. 7.
Wofford and Jordan are accused of leaving a twomonth-old child in a vehicle that was not running in a parking lot for over 15 minutes, resulting in heat-related injuries.
Stroud Police Officer Christian Wade Martin states in a probable cause affidavit that he was dispatched just before 3 p.m. on Sep. 13 to a grocery store at 1399 W. Main Street in Stroud in Lincoln County in reference to a baby being left inside a vehicle within the parking lot.
Martin said once he arrived, he made contact with the reporting party, Jackie McClendon, who pointed through a back passenger window at a very small infant. The baby was screaming, Martin said, and he could it as he exited his patrol unit.
The officer reported he quickly unlocked the vehicle through the open front passenger window once he noticed nobody was around. He states he unbuckled the baby from the car seat and held her. The back of the baby’s head was soaked with sweat from being inside the car, Martin noted.
The baby stopped screaming immediately upon Martin’s holding her.
Stroud Officer Charles Mash attempted to locate the baby’s guardian inside the store while Martin was getting her out of the car. Mash requested store employees to make an announcement over the loud speaker for the parents to come forward and a female reportedly reached out to him and he asked if the baby was hers to which she stated, “Yeah, we just ran in real quick.”
Mash advised her an officer needed to speak with her and her husband outside. Jordan tried to grab the baby from Martin claiming, “We weren’t in there that long,” which told him they knew they had left the baby inside the vehicle.
Wofford at first gave the officer the wrong identification because he had warrants out for his arrest.
The Department of Human Services was contacted for a joint response, Martin said, and he and Mash decided to also contact EMS to check on the baby. Chandler EMS transported the infant to the Stroud Emergency Room.
Once at the ER, the doctor advised she was transferring the baby to OU Children’s Hospital by helicopter due to the baby’s heart rate dropping and fluid on her lungs.
A Pottawatomie County DHS supervisor advised she would send a worker to Martin’s location and he also contacted Lincoln County Assistant District Attorney Lori McConnell to inform her of the case.
Martin said later DHS conducted a home visit and determined the children would be removed from the residence and around 8 p.m. both Wofford and Jordan were arrested at the Stroud Police Department and transferred to the Lincoln County Jail in Chandler.