Tulsa Police are asking for the public to be patient in wanting to find out more information on how a 24-year-old Tulsa man showed up at a Tulsa, Oklahoma hospital with a 12-year-old he said was his girlfriend who was ready to give birth to their child on Wednesday.
Juan Miranda-Jara showed up on Wednesday at Hillcrest Hospital in midtown Tulsa with the child in mid-labor expecting to become a proud new father, but he ended up under arrest for first degree rape of a minor, Tulsa Police Officer Danny Bean said.
“They walked in just like any other couple would excited to deliver their newborn child,” Bean said.
Doctors immediately called 911 when the girl showed up telling officers they had a rape victim they needed to see immediately, he said. When officers arrived, Miranda-Jara proudly said he was the father of the child the 12-year-old mother was about to give birth to, and he acted a bit unsure as to why police were even getting involved. Officers believe Miranda-Jara was fully expecting to go home with his child-girlfriend and newborn baby later that day as if everything was perfectly legal. The age of consent in Oklahoma is 16.
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“We don’t get this kind of call every day,” Bean said. “It certainly was a surprise for everyone involved.”
Since FOX23 News broke the story of Miranda-Jara’s arrest, TPD and FOX23 has received numerous questions about how this could have happened. Bean said TPD’s Child Crisis Division investigators are trying to piece together how Miranda-Jara had access to the girl and how a girl who is old enough to be in the 5th or 6th grade was able to carry a baby through a full term pregnancy without anyone reporting it to police.
“We don’t believe this is incest at this time,” Bean was able to reveal, but he was not able to discuss the man and the child’s relationship any further at this time.
Bean said because of the sensitivity of the investigation and its on-going nature, the public will need to give officers time to piece things together going back at least nine months when the girl became pregnant if not sooner as to how she came in contact with Miranda-Jara and was allowed to have a relationship with him.
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“We know there are many people in the community who are shocked by this, grossed out by this, disturbed by this, have questions, a whole range of emotions,” he said. “But in time, we will be able to give the community the answers they want. We just don’t have all the answers right now to give them, and we don’t want to compromise the investigation that’s still happening and really just now getting started.”
Bean said as the investigation goes on, it’s possible Miranda-Jara could face more charges for the under-aged pregnancy depending on what is found.
The child was born healthy and with no complications. Once the investigation is complete, it will be up to Oklahoma DHS in Tulsa to determine what happens to the two children both the child-mother and the newborn baby.
In photos sent to FOX23 News from a viewer, Miranda-Jara who goes by just Juan Miranda on social media is seen posting that he is in a relationship with the girl on his Facebook profile, and there are photos of Miranda and the girl at what appears to be a baby shower where they are celebrating their child.
The girl comments that everyone’s life is different, and she has the support of people close to her for not just her pregnancy but also in raising the child at such a young age.
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