Family Seeks Answers For Daughter After Arson Charge Dropped, Arrested Again

A Green Country family is looking for answers for their daughter, now that an arson charge against her was dropped due to the Supreme Court ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma on tribal jurisdictions.

Cassia Anderson’s parents said she is a drug addict and they hoped she would get the help she needs while in jail for arson. Instead, she was released and has now been arrested again, accused of public intoxication and indecent exposure.

For 12 years, Juana Gomez has had a question for her husband Tom Gomez.

"I ask him all the time, was I not the right mother?" Juana said.

It's because of their daughter, Cassia Anderson, who changed from loving mom to homeless drifter due to a drug addiction.

"That's not our daughter, we lost our daughter years ago," Juana said. "That is not our daughter, and we're just wanting help. She wants help now and everybody is just waiting."

The family had hope when Cassia was arrested in August for setting fire to her apartment. She spent a month in jail before she was released.

"When that fire happened and I picked her up that next morning, when she got out 31 days later, I see a little bit of our daughter. She started crying right when she got into the car, she said sorry," Gomez said.

The family has pictures of the daughter they once knew, and her children, who are now in their custody. Their daughter can't live with them, and they can't find any drug abuse clinic with room for her.

The arson charges were dropped because she's Cherokee and she's been arrested twice since then for public intoxication.

The McGirt ruling means minor arrests don't lead to much jail time, where she might actually be forced to get help.

Anderson is now jailed in Washington County, but likely to be released very soon, without the support available to turn her life around.