Child found locked in dog cage, stepfather accused of abuse

A 4-year-old boy was found locked in a dog cage in Rogers County. A man is now in jail after being accused of abusing his stepchildren.

FOX23 has confirmed that Jonathon Lee is facing a number of counts of multiple types of abuse.

Court records show that a young boy spent the day in a dog cage to sleep and be disciplined.

"This little guy knew enough that he didn't belong there. He had actually broken out of the cage," Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton said.

Investigators said that the child sometimes spent more than half the day locked inside the cage.

Walton told FOX23 that the Department of Human Services removed three children from the home.

"I knew something was going on because every time [the oldest child] would talk she would shake. I wasn't sure if she was taken care of right or not," one neighbor, who didn't know there were three children in the house, said.

FOX23 learned that the children were young, ranging from ages 4 to 14. Officials said that their stepfather, Lee, and biological mother, Suzanne Sutterfield, were arrested.

The arrest report said that Lee admitted to investigators that he put the boy in the cage to "protect him."

"The first excuse was that there was some exposed wiring in the house and they were protecting the child from that," Walton said.

Investigators said they suspect Lee had outbursts of anger and pointed out holes in the home's sheet rock that they believe Lee kicked in.

The family's landlord told FOX23 that his heart goes out to the children.

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