An 18-month-old was found locked in a dog cage and covered in feces in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The father, William Lewallen, is charged with child neglect, according to KJRH.
Neighbors had heard a child crying outside for more than 20 minutes and saw a naked 4-year-old wandering around the backyard and alerted police.
Officers arrived at the home and there was no answer so they looked through a window and saw a child locked in a metal dog cage.
Upon entering the house they said there was an overwhelming stench of feces and after getting the child out of the cage they realized she was covered in it.
Police searched the house and found Lewallen in bed asleep with a naked 3-year-old in bed next to him.
NBC News reports that the father had taken narcotic pain medicine, a muscle relaxer, and an anti seizure medicine with beer and laid down.
According to News on 6, the arrest reports states, “The defendant was unaware that a naked child had been locked out of his house and was outside in the 40 degree weather for over 20 minutes. The screaming child in the dog kennel did not wake the defendant nor did the officers kicking the door down to rescue the toddler in the dog cage.”
The children’s mother arrived home as officers were leaving.
The children are in The Department of Human Services’ custody and Lewallen is in a Tulsa jail on $50,000 bail.
