Oklahoma Parents Arrested for Child Neglect After Leaving 3 Kids Home Alone to Play Pickleball

Andrew Dick and Feather Roberts allegedly left their children, ages 8, 5, and 1, unsupervised in Glenpool, OK. Police were alerted by a 911 hang-up call.

Oklahoma Couple Arrested After Leaving Three Young Children Alone During Pickleball Game

An Oklahoma couple left their three children — aged 8, 5, and 1 — home alone while they drove roughly 20 minutes away to play pickleball, Law & Crime reports. Andrew Dick and Feather Roberts were arrested on three counts of child neglect each following the incident in Glenpool.

According to a police press release posted on Facebook by the Glenpool Police Department, officers were dispatched after a "911 hang-up call" came in. A reporting party told officers they suspected the three children had been left at the residence without adult supervision.

When contacted by the reporting party, Roberts stated that she and Dick were playing pickleball at Courts and Commons in Bixby and claimed the children were with sitters. That account proved false. Officers who responded to the home confirmed that the 8- and 5-year-old were watching television while the 1-year-old was asleep — with no adult present.

Dick and Roberts returned to the residence while officers were still on scene. They confirmed they had been in Bixby playing pickleball. When asked how the children could reach them in an emergency, Roberts told officers the children had access to an iPad they could use to call.

The investigation also surfaced a pattern of behavior. Police say they received information "indicating this was not the first occasion" the couple had left the children home alone. Officers additionally learned that Dick and Roberts had arranged childcare for their infant — the youngest of the three — while leaving the other two children at the residence without supervision.

"The children were found safe and in good health," the police release states. "The Oklahoma Department of Human Services was notified."

Dick and Roberts were taken into custody on three counts of child neglect.

Source: Law & Crime