A Bartlesville woman was seen in Washington County Court today on charges alleging domestic abuse. Melissa Ann Richards has history with domestic abuse charges, as this is allegedly her third charge. According to an affidavit, Richards told police that she was in the living room when another party who lives with her got up and started to make food.

Richards told police that the other party was making too much noise in the kitchen while she was trying to sleep, which caused a verbal altercation between the two. Richards then says that the other party slapped her in the face, and she retaliated due to “having enough of the abuse.”

The other party then would tell police that her story was not true and said that he never laid a hand on Richards. Officers notice that Richards had no marks on her face indicating that she was struck, while the other party allegedly had an extremely red and swollen left eye. Richards is currently being held over on a $25,000 bond and her next court date is set for February 17^th.