Son and fiancee charged with elderly abuse, assault

Investigators say Bryon James Pollard, 53, and his fiancée, Charlene Hadie Wurster, 50, of Checotah, physically abused Bryon’s 87-year-old father, James Pollard, and that James then shot his son in the leg.

On May 29, Bryon Pollard was charged with abuse by caretaker; malicious injury to property valued at more than $1,000 and possession of a credit card belonging to another.

Wurster was charged with domestic abuse – assault and battery, and malicious injury to property valued at more than $1,000.

Associate District Judge Brendon Bridges entered not guilty pleas on behalf of both defendants.

At a hearing held Tuesday, June 11, for both defendants, Pollard was ordered back to court at 9 a.m. on June 25 for a pre-preliminary conference. Wurster was ordered back to court at 9 a.m. on June 18.

Also, to be heard on June 18 is a motion by the district attorney’s office to revoke a one-year suspension for Wurster, which the defendant received on April 26 after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge of driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. That charge was filed in October 2023.

As to the most recent charges against Bryan Pollard and Wurster, in a probable cause affidavit Deputy Bradly Smith said on May 26 shortly before 8 p.m. he went to the James Pollard residence west of the Belle Starr RV Park on Lake Eufaula.

Smith stated a neighbor had called the sheriff ’s office about a shooting.

Smith said when he arrived, he was met by James Pollard who had lacerations on his left hand and right arm; also, his left eye was swollen, there was a red mark on his neck below the left ear and there were scratches on the left side of his face.

James Pollard told Smith that Bryon Pollard and Charlene Wurster were destroying his house.

According to Dep. Smith, James Pollard said his son “shoved him down” and while James was down, Charlene repeatedly hit him with possibly a leg from a broken kitchen table.

“While James was getting hit by Charlene, Bryon came at him and he shot his son in the leg,” Smith reported.

Smith said when he entered the residence, he observed broken glass on the floor and a damaged TV.

In the kitchen, he said, he observed blood on the floor, a broken kitchen table, a broken cabinet door, a phone hanging off the wall, a broken motion sensor on the wall, medicine, and papers all over the kitchen floor and in the bedroom was a 9 mm Ruger belonging to James.

McIntosh County Dep. Dillon Hanika was at the St. Francis Hospital in Muskogee where he talked to Bryon about the gunshot wound in his leg.

“Bryon said he was shot at the lake and did not know who did it,” Hanika reported to Smith.

Charlene Wurster was at the hospital with Bryon and told Hanika she needed to use the restroom, and she never returned, Smith reported.

She and Bryon were later arrested and booked into the McIntosh County jail.