Local, State briefs
BY Staff Reports
Thursday, August 16, 2012
8/16/12 at 3:01 AM
Homeless man accused of raping, beating another
A homeless man was arrested Tuesday on allegations that he raped another homeless man near a jogging and biking trail, Tulsa police said.
Jeffery Tallon, 25, is accused of beating, kicking and raping the man about 9:15 p.m. Monday in a homeless camp off the Katy Trail, which runs between Tulsa and Sand Springs, police said.
The victim sustained face and head injuries, broken ribs and internal bleeding, an arrest report says.
A witness who ran for help after the assault near 25th West Avenue described the attacker to police, who searched the area, the report says.
Police found Tallon, who matched the description, sleeping about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday near a homeless camp along the Arkansas River south of 3500 W. Charles Page Blvd., the report says.
Tallon had cut, bruised knuckles and blood on his shirt, police said.
He remained in the Tulsa Jail on Wednesday on complaints of first-degree rape and aggravated assault and battery, records show.
His bail was set at $52,000.
- ZACK STOYCOFF, World Staff Writer
Missing AC technician's van found near Haskell
The work van of a missing heating and air conditioning technician who was last seen Friday in Tulsa was found Tuesday night on an ATV path east of Haskell, police said.
Authorities had announced Tuesday that Justin A. Cobb, 34, of Broken Arrow was missing and possibly endangered. He was last seen in the area of 51st Street and Peoria Avenue about 4:30 p.m. Friday after completing several service calls in the Tulsa area for Mullin Services, a Broken Arrow company, Broken Arrow police said.
Cobb's red work van was found late Tuesday in a wooded rural area about 10 miles east of Haskell near Okmulgee County Road 310, Capt. Rich Shea said. A man who lives in the area saw tire tracks on a hunting and ATV trail and found the van after sunset, he said.
Valuables in the van, including a laptop computer and Cobb's wallet, seemed undisturbed, Shea said. There was no evidence of a struggle.
Cobb is described as white, 6 feet 4 inches tall and about 190 pounds with hazel eyes and a shaved head.
A Mullin Services employee said Wednesday that Cobb had worked for the company for five years, but he said he couldn't comment on the investigation.
Anyone with information about Cobb is asked to call Broken Arrow Police Detective Pat O'Brien at 918-259-8400.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Woman in glass-spanking case charged with abuse
A Sand Springs woman who is accused of spanking her 5-year-old son with a bag containing broken glass was charged with child abuse Wednesday in Tulsa County District Court.
Alecia Anne Croney took the boy, who had deep cuts to his legs, to a hospital on Sunday, according to her arrest report. Police said the cuts required surgery.
Croney, 24, told police her son screamed and started bleeding after she hit him lightly with a bag she had pulled from the trash as punishment for playing video games when he was not allowed, according to an arrest report.
She also said she had just thrown away a broken jar but did not know that the bag had shards in it.
Croney, whose first name appears as Alicia in Tulsa Jail records, is charged with child abuse by injury.
She remains in the Tulsa Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Robber with pillow hits the same QuikTrip twice
A man hiding his hand in a pillow has robbed the same convenience store twice in about two weeks, Tulsa police believe.
The robber had his hand in a pillow and implied that he was concealing a gun with it when he confronted a clerk at the QuikTrip at 28 N. Harvard Ave. shortly after 3 a.m. Wednesday, police said. He got away with money, and no one was injured.
The robber is believed to be the same man who had his hand in a pillow when he robbed the store July 31, police said.
The man is described as black, around 30 years old and between 5 feet 10 inches and 6 feet 1 inch tall, police said. During Wednesday's robbery, he covered his face and wore a dark T-shirt, black shorts and flip-flops.
Anyone with information about him is asked to contact CrimeStoppers at 918-596-COPS or tulsaworld.com/crimestoppers
- ZACK STOYCOFF, World Staff Writer
Travel claim padded by 100K miles, charge says
An Ochelata woman has been charged in Tulsa federal court with over-representing by more than 100,000 miles the distances she traveled to receive treatment for injuries she claimed she sustained while working as a letter carrier.
Vickie L. Moore, 48, was arrested and arraigned Wednesday on mail fraud and theft of public money charges contained in an originally sealed Aug. 8 indictment. The government claims that she caused it a loss of more than $51,665.
Federal employees who suffer on-the-job injuries may receive reimbursement for medically related travel, according to the indictment.
Those seeking such funds are required to provide information about such trips, including the mileage traveled.
On Dec. 22, 2007, while working as a Postal Service letter carrier in Bartlesville, Moore filed a form claiming to have sustained a "slip and fall" injury, according to the indictment.
A grand jury alleges that, beginning on Dec. 27, 2007, and continuing until late summer 2011, Moore caused the government a loss of $51,665.60 by fraudulently claiming mileage reimbursements to which she was not entitled.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Gallant said Moore over-represented by more than 100,000 miles the distances she had traveled for medical appointments.
- David Harper, World Staff Writer
DUI crackdown runs until Labor Day in four states
Nearly 100 law enforcement officers from four states turned out Wednesday morning to kick off a program to crack down on drunken drivers.
Oklahoma and the surrounding states of Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas will participate in the program, "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over."
The event lasts from Aug. 17 through Sept. 3, Labor Day.
"This four-state event is a symbol of the unified effort across the United States to cut down on impaired driving crashes," Lt. Garrett Vowell, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's impaired driving enforcement coordinator, said in a statement.
Troopers, a prosecutor and other law enforcement-related speakers from Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri spoke during the news conference in Joplin, Mo. The speakers said drunken-driving-related crashes are 100 percent preventable.
- Sheila Stogsdill, World Correspondent
Injured Oklahoma hikers rescued in Washington
The Lewis County (Wash.) Sheriff's Office has rescued an Oklahoma couple who were injured on a hike in the Goat Rocks Wilderness south of Packwood, Wash.
The hikers, whose names and town were not available, were treated Wednesday at a hospital.
The 58-year-old woman had cuts to her leg, face and arm, Chief Deputy Stacy Brown said. She was injured while trying to help her 62-year-old husband, who had slid down a snow field and hit his head and hip on some rocks.
The man used a satellite phone to call for help.
- From The Associated Press
Associated Images:
Tallon
Cobb
Croney
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