(PCSD file photos)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Ripley couple accused of exposing their 7-year-old daughter to the consumption of methamphetamine have been ordered to appear in court today on Payne County charges of child neglect along with possession of the drug and paraphernalia described as glass methamphetamine smoking pipes with residue.
The father, Brent Allen Nelson, 42, who had been convicted of lewd proposals or acts to a child in Clay County, Mo. in 2012, was also charged in Payne County with being a felon with illegal access to seven guns in his male relative’s home, court records show.
Nelson was ordered jailed on $10,000 bail; his partner, Brianne Kiley Coffelt, 43, was ordered held on $5,000 bail, court records show.
The child was placed by the state Department of Human Services in the custody of a female relative, according to an affidavit by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy William Bowen.
The parents were arrested on April 18, the same day that a search warrant was served at a Ripley home where the family had been staying with a male relative, the affidavit alleged.
Methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia were found the family’s bedroom, the affidavit alleged.
The child was not currently enrolled in school, the affidavit said.
“Brianne had told deputies that (the child) had been in online school through K-12 but was not currently and she was trying to get her into Epic. Brianne said she had to wait until June to get transfer papers for Epic.
“Brianne could not tell us the last time she attended school. When asked why (the child) was not enrolled in public school, Brianne said she owed money to the state of Kansas so they would not release (the child’s) school records for her to be enrolled,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit,
When the child was shown a smoking device found in the family’s bedroom, she said, “her dad had smoked from it while he and her mom were in their bed, and she was in her bed. Her bed “is a vinyl cushion wrapped in trash bags as sheet in the floor just beside Brent and Brianne’s bed,” the affidavit alleged.
