Chickasha Woman Charged With Felony Child Abuse

A woman entrusted by the state to care for five children could lose her parental rights. The 65-year old woman is charged with felony child abuse.

According to a court affidavit, the five adopted children ages six to 15 were taken from the woman's home last November, after she admitted abusing them.

The Grady County Sheriff discovered the alleged abuse when the two oldest girls ran away from their Verden home.

One of the teens had marks on her cheek and inside her mouth. She told deputies the marks were caused by her mother, 65-year-old Carol Schmidt.

According to court documents, Schmidt adopted the children in 2007.

She admitted to DHS workers that she locked the two boys in their room with a bucket to use as a toilet, pinched one of the girls, and forced one of the boys to lick his own vomit.

Sheriff Art Kell says it's one of the worst cases of alleged abuse he has seen in Grady County.

"This one here even brought up a red flag for the district attorney's office when they heard about it."

In the affidavit, one of the teenagers claims Schmidt banged her head on the dryer, hit her with a screw driver, kitchen spatula, flip flops and a fly swatter.

One of the boys says Schmidt threatened him she would "get a child molester to play with him" after she caught him messing with one of her dogs and grabbed his private part.

The children also claim she burnt one of the boys' hands with a lighter because he wouldn't eat.

"It's unfortunate the kids had to go through this type of torture," Kell said.

Schmidt's attorney says the allegations are not as heinous and shocking as they appear in the affidavit.

Her first court appearance was Thursday. She's free on a $50,000 bond.