By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man has avoided a jury trial in August by pleading guilty to abusing or allowing others to abuse his 4-year-old son by punching, kicking and whipping the child, who had substantial bruising over his entire body, court records show.
Jeremiah Tobiah Allen Sr., 31, who is 6’6″ and weighs 220 pounds, was given a 10-year prison term last week by Associate District Judge Stephen Kistler, who ordered that Allen have no contact with the boy for the length of his sentence on the request of attorney Virginia Banks, who was appointed to represent the victim..
The abuse of Allen’s son occurred less than five months after Allen was released from prison where he was incarcerated for drug possession with intent to distribute, state Department of Corrections records show.
The 4-year-old’s mother reported that Allen “had been threatening to ‘beat the child’s ass,"” Stillwater Police Detective Mary Kellison wrote in an affidavit.
Allen’s girlfriend “had come outside to speak with the child’s mother and made similar threats to ‘beat the child’s ass,"” the affidavit alleged.
When Allen was contacted at his residence on Aug. 8, 2019, he “became very animated and paced back and forth on the porch,” the affidavit said.
A state Department of Human Services child welfare specialist told Allen that she needed to come inside the house and check on the boy, the affidavit said.
“According to officers, (the 4-year-old) was sitting very quietly in a chair in the living room. Immediately, officers noticed (he) had a blacked right eye, fresh bruises on the side of his left forehead, dark bruising on his face and both arms. Lt. Bell documented he could even make out several bruises around (the boy’s) ankles,” the affidavit said.
On the child welfare specialist’s request, Allen removed the child’s shirt; “There was extensive bruising in various stages of healing that could be seen on (the child’s) body,” the affidavit said. “There were several scratches and some of them were deep and in various stages of healing,” the affidavit said.
The bruising was so severe that the child welfare specialist took the boy to the hospital “to have his injuries examined in an attempt to determine their cause and if he had any other serious injuries like fractures,” the affidavit said.
At the Stillwater Medical Center’s emergency room, the nurse practitioner who examined the boy ordered a CT scan and x-rays, the affidavit said. She said “she did not believe the injuries were normal for a 4-year-old child to have sustained through every day activity,” the affidavit said.
When the boy was taken on Aug. 16, 2019, to the Saville Center for a forensic interview, he “disclosed that he didn’t want to go to his dad’s house ever again,” the affidavit said.
The 4-year-old said his father “whoops him with a belt,” the affidavit said. Shown a picture of his face, the boy “disclosed getting whooped in the face with a shoe by his dad,” and pointed to the black eye on the picture, the affidavit said.
According to the state Department of Corrections, Allen had previously been convicted in Payne County of:
* drug possession with intent to distribute in 2013, for which he was originally given probation that was revoked in 2017 to a seven-year prison term, but he served only about one year and eight months prior to his release in March of 2019;
* possession of marijuana with intent to distribute in 2016, for which he was given the same sentence as above to run concurrently;
* possession of marijuana with intent to distribute on another occasion in 2016, for which he was given the same sentence as above to run concurrently.
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