The Sheriff’s blotter shows an arrest last night of a “Timothy John Coke”, age 46, with a reported address in Symphony Bay off Clint Moore just east of 441. The charge listed is neglect of a child:
A person who willfully or by culpable negligence neglects a child without causing great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement to the child
We can’t say it’s him for sure, but there is a doctor practicing family medicine in the area with the same name. The property record shows it’s owned by a couple who may be his parents.
Dr. Coke graduated from a medical school in Hungary and did residencies in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
This case looks a little odd to us for a couple reasons. First, he remains in custody awaiting bond. We don’t see any reason why a bond would be required in a case like this. He should have been released on recognizance.
Second, a case like this can often be the result of false allegations by the accused’s significant other during a domestic dispute, or poor judgment by the police in charging neglect for what may be an ordinary bad parenting moment. Of course without seeing documents we can’t say for sure, but as always the accused is innocent at this stage of the process.
Update: WPTV has more details.
Per that article the allegation is that Coke’s 6-year-old was found swimming naked in the community lake, unsupervised. An older son was supposed to be watching the boy. It seems like a stretch to make this a crime.
