OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Oklahoma City police are looking to arrest four adults for the abuse of four children.
All four of the arrest warrants are for child abuse, but one of the four is also for sexual communication with a minor via text messaging.
Police say Christopher Aucoin, 39, Sandra Aucoin, 61, Krista Cox, 30, and Thomas Wood, 56, were all living in two hotel rooms at the Red Roof Inn on S. Meridian Ave. with the four children. According to police reports, Cox was the biological mother of all four of the children, who ranged from ages 6 to 11.
Cox told officers during an interview that her, her boyfriend Christopher and Christopher's mother, Sandra, all stayed in one bedroom, while Wood stayed in the bedroom with the four children.
All adults offered up reasoning behind the wounds the children suffered from to police, saying the cuts and scratches on the 6 year old was because he "got a nose bleed" which led to "an ear infection" which then caused him to "scratch his face." When the 10 year old had casts on both arms and his body was bruised in multiple areas, police were told he had had a seizure which caused him to hit his head, "hyper extend his fingers" and fracture his arms.
At one point, the 6 year old went to the hospital with severe injuries to his head, face, and majority of his body. According to court documents, the child was sent home with some antibiotics and told to apply ice for the swelling. However, when the ice was applied, the swelling somehow "became worse." Wood told police officers he suspected it was because the child was "allergic to ice."
The entire time, however, Cox maintained to police that her children were harming themselves. Wood corroborated her story, saying no one ever laid a hand on the children. Wood told police the kids were disciplined by standing in the corner, losing TV privileges, or by laying on the bed.
However, Cox's boyfriend Christopher said if the kids had outbursts, he would handle it by "hollering and holding them down." He told police that he didn't "throw them, pound on them, grab them, or jerk them," but just uses his "hands to hold them down."
Christopher was arrested in May 2022 and had his cellphone seized, where investigators discovered texts that were sexual in natural with Cox's 11-year-old daughter.
Police have issued an arrest warrant for Cox, Wood and Sandra for Permitting Child Physical Abuse. Christopher was arrested for Permitting Child Physical Abuse and Soliciting Sexual Communication with a Minor by Use of Technology.
Between Nov. 2021 and March 2022, DHS had received 11 referrals in reference to the family, which was a result of concerned school teachers, counselors, and citizens.
