Local, State Briefs
BY Staff Reports
Saturday, September 29, 2012
9/29/12 at 3:06 AM
Former travel agent to pay restitution for thefts
A former Tulsa travel consultant was sentenced Friday to three years of probation for devising a scheme to use thousands of dollars worth of Southwest Airlines travel credits that did not belong to her.
Charisma Dawn Rust, 38, was ordered by U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan to serve the first four months of probation under house arrest and to pay $27,349.44 in restitution.
In pleading guilty to a federal wire fraud charge on May 10, Rust admitted that she used for herself and others more than $27,000 worth of credits that belonged to travel agency clients while she worked at Warren Place Travel Inc.
She was fired by the travel agency in July 2010.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Leitch wrote in a pleading filed earlier this month that Rust manipulated clients' travel credits from January 2007 through November 2010 - four months after her termination - to purchase dozens of airline tickets for herself and others.
Rust told the court that she had no explanation for what she did and apologized for her actions.
She could face up to 20 years in prison if her probation is revoked, Eagan said.
- DAVID HARPER, World Staff Writer
Police ask for help finding trailer stolen from storage
Police released surveillance images Friday of a pickup hauling a stolen trailer from a storage facility this week.
The 16-foot black Haulmark trailer contained a custom blue Yamaha motocross all-terrain vehicle, police said. Both were towed from the storage facility at 1424 S. Sheridan Road around 7 p.m. Monday by a man driving a red Chevrolet pickup, the surveillance video shows.
The trailer bears West Virginia license plate number 22-519. The ATV has stickers that read "Greg's ATV & Cycle" on it.
Riding gear and a pair of jump boots that belonged to a soldier were also in the trailer, police said.
The video also shows a red Ford Mustang holding the storage facility's gate open for the pickup, according to the release.
Anyone with information on the theft is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-COPS or submit a tip online at tulsaworld.com/crimestoppers Tipsters can be anonymous and could earn a reward.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Woman goes to prison for bank case parole violation
A woman who received probation for her role in an "inside-job" theft from a Sand Springs bank was sentenced Friday to a year and a half in prison after violating the terms of her probation.
Brooke Ashley Braswell, 23, was one of three defendants who were sentenced to probation in February for a theft from the IBC Bank at 3402 S. Oklahoma 97 on June 14, 2011. She admitted that she was the getaway driver in the heist.
The U.S. Probation Office in Tulsa filed a document in August alleging that Braswell had violated her probation in various ways, including by distributing heroin to an undercover Tulsa police officer on Aug. 20 and on Aug. 22.
Braswell was arrested Aug. 28 and was indicted Sept. 6 on heroin-distribution charges.
The drug charges are still pending, but Braswell admitted Sept. 14 that she had violated her probation in the bank case.
U.S. Chief District Judge Gregory Frizzell told Braswell on Friday that, while justified under the law, she had received a "great gift" when the U.S. Attorney's Office downgraded the earlier charge from bank robbery to bank theft, which is treated less severely under federal sentencing guidelines.
Braswell blamed her conduct on drug use.
"I'm an addict," she said. "I struggle with that every day."
- DAVID HARPER, World Staff Writer
Dog carrying arm leads to human body in Muskogee
MUSKOGEE - A badly decomposed body was found Friday after a city worker saw a dog carrying what appeared to be a human arm in the 600 block of North 12th Street in the early afternoon, Muskogee Police Department public information officer Pedro Zardeneta said.
The worker notified police, who discovered the body about four blocks away in an undeveloped area, Zardeneta said.
He said police are working with the Oklahoma State Medical Examiner's Office to discover the person's identity and whether the death was a result of foul play.
- DAVID HARPER, World Staff Writer
Suspect shot during home invasion is charged, jailed
ALDERSON - Pittsburg County sheriff's deputies have arrested a man who was shot during an apparent home invasion in Alderson on Monday.
Billy Jack Thomason, 37, was charged Thursday with assault with a deadly weapon, second-degree burglary and possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction.
Thomason is accused of forcing his way into a residence after a woman attempted to break in through a dog door about 11:30 p.m. Monday, said Sheriff Joel Kerns.
The homeowner shot Thomason in the arm after Thomason fired at the homeowner, Kerns said. The round ricocheted into Thomason's chest, the sheriff said.
Thomason and the woman, alleged to be Andrea Beall, 32, then fled, Kerns said. Thomason was found hours later and was taken to St. John Medical Center in Tulsa.
On Thursday, he was booked into the Pittsburg County Jail, where his bail is set at $500,000.
Thomason was sentenced to concurrent five-year terms on convictions that include child abuse, cruelty to animals and unauthorized use of a vehicle in separate cases in 2000 and 2005.
Deputies are still attempting to locate Beall. Anyone with information regarding her whereabouts can call the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office at 918-423-5858.
Kerns does not expect the homeowner to be charged with the shooting.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
County road crash is fatal to B'ville woman
A Bartlesville woman died as the result of a Friday morning traffic accident in Washington County, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.
Phylis Jackson, 69, was driving a 2001 Chevrolet pickup south on a county road about two miles south of Bartlesville when she pulled into the path of a westbound 2006 Chevrolet pickup shortly before 9 a.m., the OHP stated in a press release.
Jackson was pinned for more than 20 minutes before being extricated by Oglesby firefighters. She was taken to Jane Phillips Medical Center in Bartlesville and died shortly after 11 a.m., according to the OHP.
The driver of the other pickup, Jessica Brunelle, 24, of Ramona, and her two daughters, Destiny Jones, 6, and Kalli Hamilton, 4, were all treated at the same hospital and released, according to the Highway Patrol.
Troopers reported that conditions were "extremely foggy" at the time of the wreck and that the cause of the collision is still under investigation.
- DAVID HARPER, World Staff Writer
Associated Images:
This surveillance image shows a red Chevrolet pickup hauling a stolen 16-foot black Haulmark trailer from a storage facility at 1424 S. Sheridan Road about 7 p.m. Monday. Courtesy
Braswell
Thomason
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