MEEKER, Okla. -- Charges have been filed against four people accused in connection with allowing a teenage boy to starve on a property near Meeker, KFOR reported.
Authorities say a malnourished 15-year-old Oklahoma boy survived by eating sticks, leaves and grass was found last week living in a barn.
Four members of his family have been arrested for child neglect. Authorities arrested 34-year-old Jimmy Jones, Sr., 46-year-old Amy Jones, 20-year-old Johnathan Plank and 24-year-old Tyler Adkins on a complaint of child neglect.
Lincoln County assistant District Attorney Adam Panter said the boy weighed 80 pounds July 12, when he was found sharing the barn with goats, rabbits and chickens.
A concerned passerby saw the 15-year-old in a field eating berries off of a bush and contacted authorities.
The teen is hospitalized.
The boy's name and condition haven't been released. Panter says he could have died within a week or two without medical attention.
According to the boy, his father said they didn't have money for medical care, so he would clean maggots out of the wounds on his head and superglue the wounds shut. Officials said it has been two years since the boy was allowed to leave the property.
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services declined to comment on the case.
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