Inset, top to bottom: Mekayla Beard and Joseph Wiles (Harrah Police Department). Background: The home where they allegedly abused Wiles’ 8-year-old son (KWTV).
A 43-year-old father and his 30-year-old wife were arrested in Oklahoma for allegedly beating the man’s 8-year-old son with numerous household items and forcing the child to live in deplorable conditions that left him covered from head to toe in bug bites.
Joseph Wiles and Mekayla Beard were taken into custody earlier this month and charged with two counts each of felony child neglect, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Beard, who allegedly claimed a Child Protective Services told her that beating kids was permissible, was also charged with one count of felony child abuse , and Wiles was charged with one count of felony enabling child abuse.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officers with the Harrah Police Department at about 6:54 p.m. on July 17 responded to a report of child abuse at a mobile home park located only a block from the police station. The reporting party was a neighbor who told police she hadn’t seen the victim in a long time until earlier in the day when the boy was allowed to visit with her, which is when she saw that he was covered in bruises and bug bites.