Oklahoma woman Mary Elizabeth Moore avoids jail after pleading no contest- after forcing two young children to eat dog feces. Severe malnutrition incurred.
An Oklahoma woman alleged to have forced her two young children to eat dog feces has avoided jail time — in one of the worse instances of child abuse ever seen by Delaware County authorities.
Mary Elizabeth Moore, 34, of the city of Miami, was charged in Delaware County District Court with two counts of child neglect involving her two children, ages 5 and 3, The Tulsa World reported.
Moore, who pleaded no contest, received two seven-year suspended sentences and was told to not have any contact with her children, unless it is within the guidelines of her guardianship case, according to court records.
The charges followed the mother’s two children, aged five and three, being hospitalized for severe malnutrition in the month of April.
‘This is definitely an extreme case of child neglect, one of the worst that I’ve seen,’ said Delaware County Undersheriff Tracy Shaw at the time of the mother’s arrest, CBS17 reported.
‘DHS records indicate a long withstanding history of failure to thrive cases against Tulsa woman.’
The 5-year-old child went into graphic detail to investigators about eating the dog feces, according to an arrest affidavit. An arresting officer said that the diet was to blame for the pin worms found in the child, according to the affidavit.
The older child weighed only 26 pounds when Moore was taken into custody, and the 3-year-old was a frail 18 pounds, according to the affidavit. Both were treated at a local hospital.
‘DHS records indicate a long withstanding history of failure to thrive cases brought up against Mary (Moore),’ the affidavit states.
The younger sibling was diagnosed with ‘failure to thrive as early as four months old,’ the document states — and both children were unable to properly develop as a result of ‘protein-calorie malnutrition, not being provided enough calories.’
Hospital staff needed to place both children on a special diet, including the use of nasal feeding tubes, according to the affidavit. Both children ‘developed re-feeding syndrome before beginning to gain weight.’
The arrest affidavit noted Moore allegedly refusing to take her children to the hospital along with ignoring medical advice.
Her boyfriend allegedly took part in the abuse as well — sometimes throwing bottles at the younger child, according to the affidavit.
It remained unclear what motivated the two adults in abusing the two children.
