Steven Zackariah Kittle
(PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man has been given prison terms totaling 33 years for neglecting three children — who were 18 months, one year and four years old when he was jailed on $150,000 bail 18 months ago– and for sexually abusing the four-year-old, all of whom were living in a feces-filled trailer with him, his wife, and his mother along with multiple animals, court records show.
Steven Zackariah Kittle, 36, who had pleaded guilty to all of his charges without an agreement with the prosecution regarding his penalty, was ordered to serve 15 years in prison for child sexual abuse of the four-year-old, followed by 10 years of probation and required to register as a sexual offender by Payne County Associate District Judge Michael Kulling last week.
At his sentencing hearing, Kittle was also given three six-year prison terms for neglecting the three children, according to court records that do not indicate if the prison terms are to run concurrently or consecutively.
His wife, Lindsey Nichole Pratt, 28, who has also used the surname of Kittle, was convicted on July 17 by a Payne County jury of neglecting her three young children. Jurors recommended three years each, which were ordered to run consecutively in prison, for neglecting her four-year-old girl and one-year-old boy — plus four years for neglect of her 18-month-old baby, the latter sentence of which was suspended by District Judge Phillip Corley on Aug. 23, court records show. She was ordered to register as a violent offender.
Her mother-in-law, Robin Jean Kittle, 60, pleaded guilty on July 19 to three counts of child neglect to avoid a July 22 jury trial and remains jailed pending her sentencing on Oct. 2 before Judge Kulling, court records show.
According to an affidavit by Stillwater Police Sgt. Sherae LeJeune, who assisted Detective Mary Kellison in the case, an investigation began in March of 2023 when the four-year-old girl “disclosed the sexual assault to her grandparents during a visit, which prompted the intervention by DHS and law enforcement. The children would continue to be neglected had (the girl) not disclosed at the first opportunity.”
The girl and her brother have been placed with their biological father and have lived with him and his grandparents since the day their conditions came to light, according to court testimony. The youngest child has been placed in a relative’s home, which was approved by both DHS and the Pawnee Indian tribe, according to court testimony.
