Owasso Couple Arrested Over The Weekend For Felony Child Abuse

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- An Owasso couple was arrested after neighbors reported that their two adopted children had been left outside in the rain for about five hours late Saturday night. Garold Ray McMillian, 42, and Sherry L. McMillian, 42, were booked into the Tulsa County jail on two complaints of felony child abuse.

The couple left the adopted children, ages 14 and 15, outside in the cold, drizzling weather while they took their two biological children to dinner and to watch movies, according to a report by Owasso Police Officer Lem Mutii.

According to the report, Owasso police officers arrived at the couple's residence to find a juvenile female sitting outside on the ground, shivering and shoeless at about 11:04 p.m.

Her brother was in the backyard in an open air fort.

The girl “stated that they hadn’t done anything wrong to be locked outside the house, and that this was a regular occurrence,” Mutii says in his report. The report also indicated the children had been asked to leave the residence at about 4 p.m. when the parents left with their biological children.

All the doors and windows of the house were locked, Mutii said.

“There was no access to any food, water or source of warmth for the juveniles,” the officer said. The officer notes that the dog kennel was lined with hay to keep the dog warm, and that food and water were accessible for the pet.

The temperature Saturday night in Owasso was 53 degrees with a north-northeast wind of about 6 mph with rain and drizzle, according to the police report.

The officers contacted the McMillians, who arrived at the residence about 20 minutes later.

According to the police report, Garold McMillian told the officers that he and his wife were having discipline issues with the children and that they “needed to get away and get some time and space.”

He admitted that they did not leave any food, water, warmth or access into the house for the adopted children, according to the report.

“Garold initially stated that he did not see anything wrong with leaving the children outside, for it was not any different as leaving them outside at a football game or the movies,” the officer wrote.

The report indicated that Sherry McMillian arrived and told Mutii that the children would take kitchen knives and attempt to harm themselves if they were left in the house, so she opted to lock them outside.

The adopted children did not have keys to the house and would have to sit outside after school until the parents got home from work, according to the report.

The officer noted that the McMillian’s residence was less than 250 feet from the residence of a known, habitual registered sex offender.

The McMillians were transported to the Owasso Municipal jail, and the adopted and biological children were taken to the Laura Dester Children’s Shelter.