Sapulpa police arrested a couple on Tuesday, January 7th on charges of child neglect and animal cruelty after officers discovered a harrowing scene involving two small children.
According to the arrest affidavits, Sapulpa Police Officer Deramus was dispatched to the Bridgecreek Apartments at the 1400 block of E. Hill Avenue on what they say was a “welfare check.”
The reporting party asked to speak to the officer prior to entering the residence, where they told Deramus about the conditions of the apartment, telling him the owners had “multiple animals that were underweight and in unhealthy living conditions.” They told Deramus they had noticed multiple piles of animal feces on the ground and in the animal’s cages. They also reported two small children living there, and believed the residence was “unhealthy for the occupants to live in,” according to the affidavit.
Police were shown photos of a snake and lizard believed to be “dead and decaying” in their crate, a large blanket that had turned brown due to the amount of feces, and a child’s bedroom door with brown streaks “which appeared to be from a child finger painting in the feces.”
Police eventually spoke with Summerrayne Goodin, 21, and Jernerald Willis, 23, who lived at the residence. Goodin was reportedly initially resistant to letting the officers into the apartment but eventually agreed.
Deramus said in the affidavit “The moment the door opened, I was hit with a suffocating stench of feces and urine.” Next to the front door were the dog crates with what appeared to be underweight dogs that “could not move in their crates without feces covering their fur.”
As he made his way through the residence, Officer Deramus says he encountered multiple piles of fresh and dried feces. “The dried feces piles appeared to have footprints and shoe prints in them,” he said in the affidavit.
Officer Deramus reports feces in what seems to be every room, including the bathroom, kitchen, and bedrooms. According to the affidavit, the children’s toys were “lying in or next to piles of feces.” There were also piles or bags of trash in several of the rooms.
Goodin and Willis were booked into Jail that Tuesday and the children were removed from the home by DHS and placed with a relative. Neither Goodin nor Willis have any other criminal history.
