"John Doe" - 14 yo - Oklahoma City OK

Authorities say the mother of a 14-year-old Oklahoma boy has been
arrested after her child told police he had spent years locked inside a
bedroom closet.
A police report says a security guard at a National Guard facility in
Oklahoma City called police on Friday after the boy showed up looking
malnourished and with several scars and other signs of abuse.

The
report says the teen told police he escaped from his home in Oklahoma
City, where he told police he had been kept in a closet for more than
four years.

Police say they arrested the boy's 37-year-old
mother and her 38-year-old friend on child abuse and child neglect
charges. They were both being held in jail on a $400,00 bond.

A woman was arrested after her 14-year-son told authorities he escaped from a home where he'd been kept for 4 1/2 years, spending most of his time locked in a bedroom closet, police said Monday.

A security guard at a National Guard facility in Oklahoma City called police on Friday after the teen showed up malnourished and with numerous scars and other signs of abuse, police Sgt. Gary Knight said Monday.

"He was hungry. He was dirty. He had numerous scars on his body," Knight said. "It was very sad."

The boy was taken to a hospital to be examined and then turned over to the custody of the Department of Human Services, Knight said.

After police interviews, officers on Saturday arrested the boy's mother, 37-year-old LaRhonda Marie McCall, and a friend, 38-year-old Steve Vern Hamilton, on 20 complaints each of child abuse and child neglect. Formal charges have not been filed, and both were being held on $400,000 bond, according to jail records.

Jail officials were not sure if either had retained an attorney, and no one answered the phone at McCall's home.

The teen, wearing only a pair of oversized shorts held up by a belt, walked up to a security guard at the Guard facility around 5 p.m. Friday and asked where a police station was located so he could report being abused, according to a police report.

He told police that scars on his stomach and torso were from where alcohol had been poured on him and set on fire. Other scars were from being tied up, hit with an extension cord and choked, the boy told police.

"He had scars covering most of his body," Knight said. "They were basically from head to foot."

The teen told police he moved to the Oklahoma City area from New Jersey about 4 1/2 years ago after his mother was released from jail. Since arriving in Oklahoma, he said, he had never been to school and spent most of his time locked in a bedroom closet. It was not immediately known how the teen escaped.

Knight said six other children living at the home were taken into DHS custody, but none showed signs of abuse.

A DHS spokeswoman said she could not discuss specific cases but generally an investigation would be conducted before any of the children are returned to the home or placed with other family members.

"There may be family members, but we do a diligent search, and we're very careful about placing kids in a safe environment," DHS spokeswoman Beth Scott said.

Oklahoma City Police
said when they first saw the 14-year-old boy, they noticed he smelled
bad and his body was covered with scars. The boy told police that he
was hungry and had been abused and locked up in a closet for the past
four years.
"You can tell he's been beaten all his life," said Diana Harlan, neighbor.
Harlan said she's noticed her 14-year-old neighbor with scars all over his body, and she blames it on his mother.
37-year-old, LaRhonda McCall and her friend, 38-year-old, Steve
Hamilton are accused of repeatedly beating and choking the boy.
http://www.ksbitv.com/news/62433577.html
Police said at one point, the two set the boy on fire and stabbed him.
"For the past four years, much of the time he was locked in a closet
and often times went days without food," said Master Sgt. Gary Knight,
Oklahoma City Police Department.
Luckily, police said the boy was able to push the door open and get
away. A passerby drove the boy to the Oklahoma National Guard
headquarters, where the boy asked for help. Police found that the boy
had been moved several times in Oklahoma City, and they said in all of
the locations, he was tortured.
"The 14-year-old boy has scars, unbelievable. He will not talk
because his vocal cords have been damaged. He has scars from head to
toe, burn marks, and you can tell he's been set on fire," said Harlan.
Harlan said she's known McCall and her kids for a couple of months and that their home wreaks of feces and urine.
"I've been in there to visit with the mom and the dad, and it's a
smell you don't ever want to experience. It's worse than working on a
pig farm," said Harlan.
But McCall's next-door neighbor said he hasn't seen or heard of
anything suspicious, and he never suspected McCall to be a bad mother.
"It's just crazy especially when you've talked to this person for an
hour or two hours, just trying to get to know your neighbor. You would
never think. She was just a sweet, young lady. You just didn't think it
would be of her," said El Rico Anderson, neighbor.
Police said that McCall had seven other children living in the
apartment, but none of them are victims of abuse. All of them are in
protective custody, except one who is at least 18 years old. The boy
was treated at a local hospital and is also in protective custody.
McCall and Hamilton are each charged with 20 counts or child abuse
and 20 counts of child neglect. Both are being held on $400,000 bond.

The officers who helped a 14-year-old after he escaped from a home
where he was allegedly beaten, starved and locked up in a closet by his
mother and her friend spoke out about their shocking encounter with the
boy.
The National Guard building on Northeast 36th Street is where that
14-year-old boy sought refuge after his 18-year-old sister helped him
escape from what he called an abusive home. It was there that he
approached the officers on duty and said he needed a police officer.
"He said that's he's been abused for the past four years and didn't
want to go home. He was tired of it," said Leslie Sanders, Oklahoma
Military Department.
The boy said the abuse happened at this apartment, just a mile away
from the National Guard building. Officers said his body was covered
with new and old wounds.
"They looked like bruises and burn marks. His wrists looks like he'd
been handcuffs and had ropes or chains around him," said Paul Clark,
Oklahoma Military Department. "At first it was kind of 'oh my god' and
then it was like OK, let's get this kid some help."
The officers took the boy inside, fed him and called police.
LaRhonda McCall, 37 and her friend Steve Hamilton, 38, were arrested
and each face 20 complaints of child abuse and child neglect.
Hamilton had six other children none of whom appeared to have
suffered physical abuse. Sociologist Howard Kurtz said it is a rare for
only one child to be singled out like that.
"It is pretty unusual, but there are cases where one child is chosen to be the scapegoat," Kurtz said.
Kurtz said the 14-year-old victim will need intensive counseling and therapy after experiencing the severe abuse.
The officers who helped the boy said they won't soon forget their encounter with the young teen.
"It just kind of brought it home myself because I have three grandson's myself," Clark said.
The 14-year-old boy and five of his siblings are now in DHS custody.
The manager at the apartment complex where the abuse was taking
place said McCall had only lived in the apartments for about a month
and neighbors were unaware of any abuse.
Karen Gilleland, manager of the Hillcrest Apartments in south
Oklahoma City, said that after McCall was evicted for unpaid bills in
August, a hole filled with human waste was found in the wall of a
closet in their apartment unit.
The boy said he was locked in closets at various apartments in the Oklahoma City area over the last four and a-half years.

An Oklahoma mother accused of locking up her 14-year-old boy in a
closet for 4½ years was previously convicted in the death of her
2-year-old child in New York, investigators said Wednesday.

In this undated police mug photo provided by the Oklahoma County
Sheriff's Office, Steve Vern Hamilton, 38, is shown in Oklahoma City.
Hamilton and Larhonda Marie McCall, 37, were arrested Saturday, Sept.
26, 2009 on complaints of child abuse and child neglect after a
14-year-old boy told police he escaped from McCall’s home, where he
said he’d been kept for years, mostly locked inside a bedroom closet.
(AP Photo/Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office)



In this undated police mug photo
provided by the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, Larhonda Marie
McCall, 37, is shown in Oklahoma City. McCall and Steve Vern Hamilton,
38, were arrested Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009 on complaints of child abuse
and child neglect after a 14-year-old boy told police he escaped from
McCall’s home, where he said he’d been kept for years, mostly locked
inside a bedroom closet. (AP Photo/Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office)




Oklahoma City police Sgt. Gary Knight said detectives were able to
confirm that LaRhonda McCall was arrested in New York in 1995 in
connection with the death of her daughter. At the time she went by the
name LaRhonda Pressley, he said.
Bronx district attorney's office spokesman Steven Reed said the
mother pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in 1996 and was
sentenced to jail and probation. Investigators' interviews with family
members confirmed the conviction, Knight said. It isn't immediately
clear how much jail time she served, and further details about the case
were not immediately known.
The 14-year-old boy told police his mother moved to Oklahoma after
she was released from jail, and that after living with a cousin in New
Jersey, he was sent to live with her more than four years ago,
according to a police report.
McCall, 37, and her friend, Steve Hamilton, 38, have been arrested
on 20 complaints each of child abuse and child neglect in the Oklahoma
City case. Both remained jailed Wednesday on $400,000 bond. Neither has
been formally charged, and jail officials were not sure if either has
an attorney. No one answered the phone at McCall's home Wednesday.
Police began their investigation Friday after the boy, malnourished
and covered with scars and bruises, wandered up to a National Guard
armory about a mile and a half from his home and told security guards
there he escaped and needed police.
The teen told police he spent most of the last 4½ years locked
inside bedroom closets at various apartments where the family lived,
and never attended school or received medical attention, authorities
said.
An affidavit released Wednesday said McCall and Hamilton admitted to
repeatedly beating the boy and locking him in a closet for days. McCall
told investigators she choked the teen at least once and used a belt,
ruler and broom handle to beat him numerous times over the last three
years, according to the affidavit.
Hamilton also told police he also beat the teen, identified as
"B.M.," multiple times with a belt and wire cable "when he got out of
line," and once struck him in the head with a tire jack, the affidavit
said.
"Steve advised he saw B.M. locked in the closet on at least 27 different occasions," the affidavit said.
Managers of the last two apartment complexes where the family most
recently lived said they occasionally saw some of McCall's seven other
children but never saw the teenage boy.
Karen Gilleland, manager of the Hillcrest Apartments in south
Oklahoma City, said after McCall was evicted for unpaid bills in
August, a hole filled with human waste was found in the wall of a
closet in their apartment unit.
Gilleland said she never realized McCall had more than seven
children and that whenever Gilleland had been in the apartment during
the several months the family lived there, the door to the bedroom
where the soiled closet was closed.
Dea Dollins, apartment manager at Grand Boulevard Town Homes where
the family currently lives, said she and maintenance workers had been
in the unit as recently as Friday, but the bedroom doors were closed.
"I would see, on occasion, some girls would walk in line to the
laundromat and go back to the apartment," Dollins said. "I never saw a
teenage boy."
All seven of McCall's minor children, including the 14-year-old boy,
have been taken into custody of the Department ofHuman Services. McCall
also has an 18-year-old daughter, who continues to live in the family's
latest apartment.
Meanwhile, First Assistant District Attorney Scott Rowland said
police have not yet completed their investigation, which must be
presented to prosecutors before formal charges can be filed. He said
they have ten days from the date of the couple's arrest to file a
charge, and he anticipates filing this week.

The sister of an Oklahoma boy who says his mother locked him in
apartment closets over four years said Thursday she would bring her
brother food, but would tell him not to chew because their mother would
check his teeth to see whether he had eaten.Jaleasa McCall, 18,
told The Associated Press that her mother beat, whipped, choked and
tied up her 14-year-old brother, often locking him away for days at a
time.She said she would bring her brother food and sympathy, but couldn't summon the courage to call police."He
was losing a lot of weight. Some days he would be pale from being in
there so long," McCall said. "He would really start to smell and stuff.
It looked to me like he was losing hope."The mother, LaRhonda
McCall, 37, and a friend, Steven Hamilton, 38, are jailed on 20
complaints each of child abuse and child neglect after the boy,
malnourished and covered in bruises and scars, sought help from a
security guard at a National Guard armory last Friday. A police
affidavit says both acknowledged beating the boy and that he often was
locked in a closet. Jail officials do not know of an attorney for
either.LaRhonda McCall was convicted of second-degree
manslaughter in New York in 1996 in the death of her 2-year-old
daughter and served six months jail time. Prosecutors in that case
alleged McCall, who then went by LaRhonda Presley, essentially starved
the toddler who died in February 1995, according to a New York grand
jury indictment obtained by the AP.Jaleasa McCall was 4 years
old at the time and said Thursday that she doesn't remember her sister,
but said she and her brother went to live with a cousin in New Jersey
for several years after their mother was convicted. She said she moved
to Oklahoma to live with her mother in 2007, a couple years after her
brother moved to the state.She said at first she saw no
mistreatment by her mother, but that LaRhonda McCall eventually
starting abusing the eldest of seven younger brothers and sisters.
Jaleasa McCall said the beatings became worse over time and that her
mother and Hamilton started accusing the boy of stealing, tying him up
and locking him in a bedroom closet for five days at a time or more."When
my mom wasn't home or when she would go to work, I would try to get him
out so he could get washed up and give him some food until it was time
to get him put back in there," Jaleasa McCall said.She said she
eventually realized the punishments had become abusive, but she feared
what might happen to her other siblings if she called authorities."Some
days, if it got really rough, I would go to the phone and pick it up,
but then I'd put it back down because I'd be too scared," she said. "I
was basically scared and afraid. I didn't really care about what would
happen to me, but it was my brothers and sisters I was mostly worried
about."McCall said she and her brother had gotten into an argument last Friday while there mother was at work."We
were trying to get the house cleaned up so she wouldn't yell and scream
at us," she said. "That's when he just said, 'I can't take this
anymore,' and he just left. He walked out of the door."The boy
wandered about a mile-and-half to the military facility. Security
guards at the base said the boy was covered with scars and bruises and
that his hands had deep cuts.Managers at the last two apartments
where the family lived have said they never saw the boy. One manager
said that after the family was evicted for not paying bills, she found
a hole in the wall of a closet filled with human waste.The
14-year-old and the six other minor children, who range in age from 1
to 12, are in custody of the Department of Human Services, police said.
Jaleasa McCall said she's not aware any of the children attended school.McCall said she's glad her siblings are safe, but acknowledged mixed feelings about her mother's fate."They
deserve what they get, but then again, that's my mother. I love her,"
McCall said. "As for what she should get, that's up to Oklahoma."

The mother of an Oklahoma boy who
says he was locked in apartment closets over four years was charged
Thursday with 29 counts of child abuse for allegedly torturing and
imprisoning him.
Prosecutors allege that LaRhonda McCall, 37, and her friend, Steve Vern Hamilton,
38, beat the boy repeatedly — with "fists, bike chains, cables,
extension cords, and/or boards," leaving permanent scars. Hamilton is
charged with 24 counts of child abuse.
The charges also allege McCall tortured her son in various ways. She once
allegedly tied him naked to a ladder and pouring sugar water over him
in order to attract insects. Another time, the charges allege, she
poured alcohol on him and lit it on fire, burning the boy. She also
allegedly forced him to stand barefoot in the snow for more than 45
minutes.
McCall and Hamilton were being held in the Oklahoma County jail on $400,000 bond each. Charging
documents did not list an attorney for Hamilton or McCall, and the
Oklahoma County prosecutor's office did not immediately return a call
left after hours Thursday.
The boy, malnourished and covered in bruises and scars, sought help from a
security guard at a National Guard armory on Sept. 25. The teen told
police he spent most of the last 4 1/2 years locked inside bedroom
closets at various apartments where the family lived and never attended
school or received medical attention, authorities said.
The teenager's 18-year-old sister, Jaleasa McCall, told The Associated
Press last month that she would bring her brother food and sympathy,
but didn't have the courage to contact the authorities.
The boy and his six younger siblings have been placed in Department of Human Services custody.
Managers of the last two apartment complexes where the family most recently
lived said they occasionally saw some of McCall's seven other children
but never saw the teenage boy.
McCall was convicted of second-degree manslaughter in New York in 1996 in the
death of her 2-year-old daughter and served six months jail time.
Prosecutors in that case alleged McCall, who then went by LaRhonda
Presley, essentially starved the toddler who died in February 1995,
according to a New York grand jury indictment obtained by the AP.