A teacher from a local elementary school in rural Ottawa County is facing child sexual abuse allegations, according to jail records.
Melanie Gale Friend, 36, of Wyandotte, has been booked into the Ottawa County jail around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday over allegations of child sexual abuse. The accused was due to appear before Ottawa County District Court on Wednesday.
Friend is a first-grade teacher at Turkey Ford Elementary School, a small campus northeast of Miami with fewer than 100 students from prekindergarten to sixth grade. Social media posts suggest the accused has taught there for about two years.
There are very few details provided by the authorities about the case, such as the age of the child, the relationship between the accused and the child, and when the abuse took place. It is unclear whether any charges have been filed or whether Friend has a lawyer to comment on the case.
Turkey Ford is one of many small dependent school districts in Ottawa County, in far northeastern Oklahoma near Missouri and Kansas. Miami is the county seat, located about 90 miles northeast of Tulsa.
Under Oklahoma state laws, the sexual abuse of a child by anyone who is in charge of the child’s welfare is considered a felony and carries a maximum penalty of up to life in prison. Cases involving victims under 12 years of age carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years.
