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Left to right: Christina Dickenson and Phillip Welch (Oklahoma County Detention Center).
An Oklahoma couple has been arrested after their young children were discovered outside, inadequately dressed for the severe cold, according to local authorities. The couple, Christina Dickenson, 22, and Phillip Welch, 21, are each facing charges of child neglect, as indicated by records from the Oklahoma County jail.
This troubling incident unfolded on February 20 in Oklahoma City, as detailed by the Oklahoma City Police Department. Responding to a request for a welfare check, officers arrived at the specified location, where they immediately encountered two small children outside in the frigid weather.
The children, identified as toddlers, were found near the street, seemingly unattended, according to sources reported by Oklahoma City’s Fox affiliate KOKH. This alarming sight prompted immediate action by the officers on the scene.
On the day in question, police received a welfare check request and traveled to the address provided. Officers did not have to make it inside before they saw two children out in the cold.
Both children were described as toddlers, according to police sources cited by Oklahoma City-based Fox affiliate KOKH. And both children were said to be in the street nearly all alone.
One of the toddlers was wearing pajamas, police said. The other child was allegedly wearing only a diaper and a T-shirt.
That day, the temperature in Oklahoma City ranged from a low of 27 degrees in the late morning to a high of 51 degrees by early evening, according to historical data collected by Weather Underground.
Out in the cold with the children, police also found a dog. Officers then somehow identified Dickenson and Welch as the dog’s owners.
Police eventually determined the defendants were also the parents of the children, arrested them and charged them with child neglect.
The parents were arrested and booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center on Wednesday, jail records show.
Their bonds are currently set at $50,000 cash or bail.
As of this writing, the cases against the defendants have not been docketed in the Oklahoma County court system.
Law&Crime reached out to the Oklahoma City Police Department for additional details on this story, but no response was immediately forthcoming at the time of publication.