Parents Arrested After Abandoning Their Young Kids for a Pickleball Match

A pair of parents are in some serious legal trouble after they were accused of leaving their three small children home alone. The news was shared by the Glenpool Police Department on Facebook, where officers detailed the charges facing Andrew Dick and Feather Roberts.

According to the post, the pair were arrested on Aug. 30, 2026, after officers went to the home and discovered three kids ranging from 1 to 8 years old home alone. The police say that the parents were 20 minutes away at a pickleball game.

They left the kids an iPad to use to call if there were any emergencies. Fortunately, none of the three children were injured as a result of the incident. Officers say that they were only alerted to the situation after a concerned party called 911 and told them there were children left home alone.

Now, the two parents are facing three counts of child neglect. The story quickly went viral and was covered by national outlets like People magazine as well. 

An Oklahoma Couple Left Their Kids Home Alone

This is not the first time that these children, who are 8, 5, and 1 year old, were left alone like this, according to the Glenpool police. The Facebook post says that the adults confirmed that they had previously left the kids home alone during their separate interviews. 

The pair have a fourth child who was not home at the time, according to the post, and the parents confirmed that they had secured childcare for their infant while they were gone. 

A Concerned Person Called the Police

Someone who wished not to be named grew worried about the children and called the mom to see what was going on. According to a statement they gave to the police, the mother told the caller that the pair had left for Bixby to play pickleball, and that the children were at home with a sitter. 

However, when the anonymous person went to the house to check on the kids, they discovered that there was no sitter, and they called 911. 

While some states have rules about how old a child has to be before they are allowed to be left home alone, Oklahoma doesn’t have a minimum age. That being said, the Oklahoma Human Services website says that children and infants under the age of six should never be left home alone. And elementary-aged children should never be left in charge of their younger children. 

As for what will happen to the couple, that depends on a few different factors, according to the Hunsucker Legal Group’s website. That’s because child neglect charges in the state have very different penalties, depending on the severity of the situation, which can range from a year in a county jail to life in prison.