A Texas dad and his girlfriend will spend decades in prison for tying the man’s 15-year-old daughter to a tree in Oklahoma last summer.
On Wednesday, Feb. 5, Johnny James, 41, and Kayla Clark, 42, were sentenced to 35 and 30 years, respectively, for various child abuse and neglect charges, according to reports from Oklahoma outlets Fox 23, the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise and News on 6’s Lori Fullbright.
Neither James nor Clark will be eligible for parole until they have completed 85% of their respective sentences, according to Oklahoma state law, per Fox 23 and the Examiner-Enterprise.
The pair were arrested and charged in July when, as they were visiting relatives in Vera, Okla., authorities were informed of a teenager who had allegedly been strapped to a tree, per a Washington County Sheriff’s Office press release obtained by PEOPLE.
The teen was discovered after a woman saw her tied up while driving by the area, Fullbright reported. The woman told a 911 operator that the girl had been tied up, potentially for days, and had visible injuries, including a hole on her leg and lesions on her arm.
Johnny James.
Washington County Jail
She also appeared malnourished and suffered scarring on both her wrists and legs that were consistent with rope burns, the Examiner-Enterprise reported.
When officers arrived on the scene, they allegedly found the teen sitting on a piece of carpet she had been given to sleep on, police said at the time. A following investigation determined that James had allegedly tied her to a tree on his family’s property for “over 24 hours” using a ratchet strap.
The teen was taken to a local hospital for treatment of injuries at the time, according to police.
James told authorities that he tied the girl to the tree to punish her, telling police that “the child has problems urinating and defecating while indoors and if she was outdoors there would not be any mess,” police said last summer. Investigators, however, believed he tied her to the tree to punish her for wanting to live with her mother, Fullbright reported.
Clark, who had lived with both James and his daughter for multiple years, initially denied knowledge of the abuse despite the girl being bound in plain sight, according to court records obtained by the Examiner-Enterprise. She told authorities that she knew the girl was tied up but she was “frazzled,” so she didn’t report her boyfriend’s actions, police said.
Kayla Clark.
Washington County Jail
According to Washington County District Attorney Will Drake, James and Clark’s sentencing appropriately reflected the severity of the abuse they inflicted, the Examiner-Enterprise reported.
Drake also said that because the couple pleaded guilty, James’ daughter did not have to relive her trauma by testifying at trial, but delivered a victim impact statement at the sentencing that displayed “maturity and composure beyond her years,” per the newspaper.
“This investigation and the conclusion of the cases were the result of a group effort between multiple agencies working together for the best interests of the children involved and to hold these perpetrators accountable for their actions,” the district attorney said, referring to the collaboration between both the sheriff’s office and Department of Human Services (DHS).
The DHS took custody of both the teen and other children who were found in the Oklahoma residence last summer, police reported at the time.
