§ 2-656. Failure to report child death or disappearance.
A. As used in this section:
1. “Public safety agency” shall mean a functional division of a public agency which provides firefighting, police, medical or other emergency services.
2. “At risk” shall mean there is evidence of, or there are indications of, any of the following:
a. The person missing is the victim of a crime or foul play;
b. The person missing is in need of medical attention;
c. The person missing has no pattern of running away or disappearing;
d. The person missing may be the victim of parental abduction; or
e. The person missing is mentally impaired, including cognitively impaired or developmentally disabled.
B. Any parent or guardian having the care, custody, or control of a child under fourteen (14) years of age who knows or should have known that the child has died who fails to notify a public safety agency within twenty-four (24) hours of the time that the parent or guardian knew or should have known that the child has died commits the criminal offense of failure to report child death or disappearance.
C. This section shall not apply when a child is otherwise under the immediate care of a physician at the time of death, or if a public safety agency, a coroner, or a medical examiner is otherwise aware of the death.
D. Any parent or guardian having the care, custody, or control of a child under fourteen (14) years of age who fails to notify law enforcement within twenty-four (24) hours of the time that the parent or guardian knows or should have known that the child is a missing person and there is evidence that the child is a person at risk commits the criminal offense of failure to report child death or disappearance.
E. This section shall not apply if law enforcement is otherwise aware that the child is a missing person.
F. Any person convicted of committing the criminal offense of failure to report child death or disappearance shall be guilty of a crime punishable by imprisonment in a Tribal Jail for not more than one year, or by a fine not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
G. Nothing in this section shall preclude prosecution under any other provision of law. ONCA 22-33, eff. Apr. 25, 2022.