Toddler Chasing Dog Leads To Arrest Of Broken Arrow Couple

Broken Arrow parents were jailed after a neighbor found their 2-year-old daughter running unsupervised through a neighborhood, according to police. Broken Arrow officers say the girl was in the care of her father who was later found "passed out" and "completely exposed" in the master bedroom.

An arrest report states the little girl was chasing a dog through several yards and into the street near Aspen and East 91st Street around 6:45 p.m. Friday, March 31, 2017. A concerned neighbor stopped the child and called police. Officers said they followed the dog to a home on Pecan Place where it went into the backyard.

Police knocked on the windows and doors but were unable to make contact with anyone, the arresting officer said. They called the homeowner, 24-year-old Lauren Kindal Roark, who said her boyfriend Jakeb Gates was supposed to be watching the child.

Roark came home and let police into the house, records show. 

The arrest report said police found the 28-year-old man passed out on the bed with his pants around his ankles, completely exposed. They arrested him for felony child neglect. Officers said about an hour passed between the time the neighbor called police and Gates was taken into custody.

"During that one hour, Jakeb did not attempt to locate his daughter nor did he know she had even left the residence," the report states.

Officers also said Roark had an active protective order against Gates on behalf of her and her daughter. The five-year protective order was granted January 2017.

Gates was arrested on complaints of felony child neglect and two counts of violation of a protective order. Roark was jailed on a complaint of felony child neglect.

The Department of Human Resources responded to the home an took custody of the child before placing her into the custody of one of Roark's friends, records show.