How Could You? Hall of Shame-Timothy Cheatwood UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Tulsa, Oklahoma, former respite foster parent Timothy Cheatwood,44, “is now jail, accused of distributing child porn.

Police said Timothy Cheatwood admitted to using his computer to download the porn.

Investigators said Cheatwood was a respite foster parent and worked with the Bair Foundation from September 2013 to May 2014.

The Department of Human Services said a respite foster parent watches the children of other foster parents to give them a break – sort of like a baby sitter.

Now, investigators want to find out if Cheatwood had sexual contact with any of the children in his care.

Thursday, the windows were drawn at a Tulsa house and everything was quiet in the neighborhood, but Wednesday morning was a different story, as police arrested Cheatwood.

“Thank God they got the guy and, hopefully, there was no children harmed,” said neighbor Katie Hull.

Cheatwood is accused of distributing child pornography and violating the Oklahoma Computer Crimes Act.

Last month, agents started investigating a network that people use to share child porn and followed an IP address they said led back to Cheatwood.

Jessica Brown with OSBI said, “We do these often, and one month is about as quick a turnaround we can do. Often times it takes longer than that because of all the search warrants we have to obtain from the courts.”

For nearly a year, DHS said Cheatwood served as a respite foster parent.

Under DHS rules, just like full-time foster parents, respite parents undergo extensive background checks, and anyone with a criminal history, including sex crimes, aren’t approved.

“We know he had contact with these children. We are hoping nothing occurred there, but we are certainly suspicious about it, and we want to talk to the kids and parents of these children to make sure nothing happened,” Brown said.

Katie Hull lives up the street from where Cheatwood was arrested. She said the day of the arrest she saw Cheatwood mowing his lawn, then, shortly after that she saw hordes of unmarked police cars.

She said it’s shocking to know someone accused of such a horrible crime was arrested in her neighborhood, but she’s impressed with how fast police work.

Hull said, “They follow through and they do get justice, you just have to believe in it.”

According to DHS, Cheatwood’s stint as a foster parent was short.

We reached out to the foundation Cheatwood worked under, but haven’t been told why his paperwork with the agency was closed after serving less than a year.

Investigators are asking foster parents who used Cheatwood to care for their foster children to please call the OSBI.”

Former Tulsa Foster Care Worker Arrested For Child Porn [New on 6 9/4/15 by  Katiera Winfrey]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “Foster families are coming forward after police arrested a foster care worker on distributing child porn allegations.

Timothy Cheatwood was a respite foster parent – like a babysitter for foster kids – and one Broken Arrow foster mom said Cheatwood babysat her two foster children, who have special needs, and now she’s concerned.

Cheatwood went through the same extensive background check she did. It’s done by the FBI and requires references from a pastor, boss, friends and neighbors, it also requires 48 hours of training, including sexual abuse training.

The woman said, “We were floored. Sickening, and, I guess it just…the longer I thought about it, it makes sense that somebody wanting to do evil will go to great lengths.”

Cheatwood has not been charged, only arrested for distributing child porn.

But the Broken Arrow foster parent said she feels betrayed.

“Just thinking that he groomed these kids, that he prayed not over these kids but on these kids,” she said.

He was trained by the Bair Foundation in Tulsa, the same nonprofit the woman went through to become a foster parent. It’s a foundation for Christian special needs children in DHS custody.

She said Cheatwood babysat her two foster children with special needs eight times over eight months at his Tulsa home. She even asked him why he became a respite foster parent.

“He said that he’d been divorced and had two little boys and he missed being around the kids. Okay, I get that. (nervous laugh)”

If Cheatwood is found guilty she knows DHS and the Bair Foundation were not to blame. Cheatwood has no criminal history; she said there’s nothing DHS and the Bair Foundation could have done.[Oh Please!]

“Just being vigilant, just keeping your eyes open, paying more attention. That’s all we can do to protect these kids,” she said.

She said, looking back, she believes Cheatwood was grooming them – taking them to fun places, buying them ice cream, those sorts of things.

Cheatwood has not been charged and has bonded out of jail.

The Bair Foundation declined comment, saying they don’t want to interfere with the investigation.”

Foster Care Provider Accused Of Child Porn; BA Foster Mom Feels ‘Betrayed’ [New on 6 9/9/15 by Allison Harris]

Update 2:“Prosecutors say a 7-year-old victim coming forward resulted in a sex abuse charge being added to the case against a former respite-care worker for Tulsa foster families who was already facing numerous child-pornography charges.