By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 25-year-old man, who reportedly is in a mental health facility in Omaha, has been charged with tossing his 8-week-old baby onto a couch, abusing the baby’s mother, and setting fire to a pile of her clothing in the back yard of their Stillwater home.
Jerimiah Jordon Campbell was arrested for arson at 4:04 pm on Sept. 18, about 30 minutes after a large pile of clothing was found on fire under a tree limb and electrical line behind his home, according to an affidavit by Stillwater Police Officer Joshua Simpson. However, the next day he was released from the Payne County Jail on a personal recognizance bond.
When Campbell failed to appear in court for arraignment on a three-count charge on Sept. 22, a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Campbell had called the Court Clerk’s Office and said he was working in Nebraska and could not come to Stillwater, court records show.
However, his ex-fiancee wrote in an emergency protective order petition on Sept. 24, “on Tuesday night (Sept. 22), he attempted suicide during a manic episode in Omaha, Nebraska, where he is currently being held in a mental health facility for an unknown amount of time.”
If arrested and convicted in Payne County, Campbell could be given as much as a 15-year prison term for third-degree arson, a life prison term for child neglect, and a one-year jail term for domestic assault and battery in the presence of a minor child, according to the three-count charge filed by prosecutor Debra Vincent.
According to his ex-fiancee’s EPO petition, “On Friday, Sept. 18, Jerimiah Campbell came home angry about money and a broken phone. An argument ensued and he began screaming, slamming doors, stomping through the house.
“I was sitting on the couch with our 8-week-old daughter, holding her, and he grabbed my hair bun and yanked me flat on my back, screaming in my face that he wanted to get better at Grand Lake Mental Facility. He then took our daughter from me, saying he would go without me.
“I said fine, that I would not go anywhere with him. This made him more angry and he tossed (the baby) back on the couch toward my feet, approximately two feet. I contacted my mother — and Jerimiah said the baby and I were not allowed to leave.
“He took her and put her in his car saying he would take her so my mom couldn’t. He eventually came back inside and got a box cutter knife and threatened me to not take (the baby) to my mom’s. After my mom arrived, he locked us out and refused to give us the baby.
“My mom convinced him and took the baby and I to her house where the police were called to report the incident. I returned with police to collect my three dogs where he let them loose into the street.
“Upon returning to my mother’s after collecting the dogs, Jerimiah sent me pictures of my clothes burning in the back yard. The police were contacted again and he was arrested. Upon his release from police custody and since, he has repeatedly contacted me with threatening messages, claiming attempted suicide and general harassing messages.”
Stillwater Police Officer Stephanie Wheeler had been sent earlier to the residence at 1:16 pm on Sept. 18 for a domestic investigation, two hours before other officers were sent back there on a report of fire in the back yard, court records show.
Campbell’s ex-fiancee told the Stillwater officer, “there has been abuse on and off the entire time they had been together during this most recent time, starting 11/2018,” the affidavit alleged. “I asked if she could estimate how many incidents there had been and she said around 50…I asked why we were never contacted and (she) mentioned how Jerimiah would take her phone and threaten her, her dogs, and the police.
“She stated that Jerimiah had choked her in the past, but he did not do it today. She believed that Jerimiah has been violent with 3-4 other women,” the Stillwater officer alleged in her affidavit.
Campbell’s ex-fiancee said that he has rules including that she cannot leave the house without permission, talk to men, or tell her mother what is going on, the affidavit alleged. She said she has to respond to his calls and messages within 10-20 minutes or he becomes irate, she cannot have short hair or wear it straight, and she cannot have her phone when they are fighting, the affidavit alleged.
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