Local, State briefs
BY Staff Reports
Saturday, January 05, 2013
1/05/13 at 3:12 AM
Fatal shooting is Tulsa's first homicide of the new year
Tulsa police were searching Friday night for a motive for the city's first homicide of 2013.
Ronnie Stanley, 31, died as a result of a shooting that occurred late Friday afternoon, Sgt. Dave Walker said.
Police were called to the 1800 block of North St. Louis Avenue about 4:10 p.m. in response to reports of shots heard and a man down in the street, he said.
When officers arrived, Stanley was being treated by EMSA and Tulsa Fire Department medics, Walker said. He died shortly thereafter at St. John Medical Center.
Detectives are asking anyone with information about the shooting to call Crime Stoppers at 918-596-2677, call the Homicide Tip Line at 918-798-8477 or email detectives at homicide@cityoftulsa.org
— DAVID HARPER, World Staff Writer
4 children found in SUV when driver arrested in DUI case
BIXBY - Police arrested a Jenks woman on complaints of driving under the influence and child endangerment after responding to a reported reckless driver Thursday afternoon.
A Bixby patrol officer saw a white Chevrolet sport utility vehicle that matched the description of one that had been reported driven recklessly near 151st Street and Memorial Drive about 4:15 p.m., police said.
The SUV continued "at a high rate of speed in the center of both westbound lanes" of 151st Street near Sheridan Road, the arresting officer wrote.
The officer turned on his lights and sirens to stop the SUV, at which point the vehicle swerved to the right, struck a guardrail and continued driving, police records state.
The driver - identified as Donna Jean Rogers, 62 - stopped near Harvard Avenue, according to her arrest report, and police found four children age 3 to 10 in the SUV.
Police said Rogers, who they said smelled of alcohol, was unsteady on her feet and had red, watery eyes and slurred speech.
She was booked into the Tulsa Jail on a complaint of driving under the influence and four child-endangerment complaints. She was released after posting a $101,000 bond.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Apartment meth-lab fire burns Tulsa resident, officials say
A Tulsa man was severely burned when a methamphetamine lab in his apartment caught fire, police said.
Officers were dispatched about 11:15 p.m. Thursday to assist emergency responders at a fire at the Tamarack Place Apartments, 1110 E. 60th St., Officer Jillian Roberson said.
The apartment's resident initially told police he was making model airplanes and caused the fire while doing so, she said. He later said the fire was caused by a meth lab, police reported.
An EMSA spokeswoman said a 43-year-old man was taken by ambulance from the scene to Hillcrest Medical Center.
When the man was interviewed at a hospital, he told detectives he had been making meth for some time, police said.
The man's name wasn't released Friday.
The apartment building sustained $20,000 worth of damage, and at least three units were affected, Fire Capt. Stan May said.
No other injuries were reported.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
BA man pleads guilty to stealing from Tulsa bank in inside job
A Broken Arrow man pleaded guilty Friday to his role in a 2007 bank larceny facilitated by a woman who later became a Jenks Middle School teacher.
Ryan Lee Mitchell, 29, admitted taking part in the theft of $21,545 from the Arvest Bank at 6560 E. 71st St. on Sept. 16, 2007.
Mitchell said the theft was made possible when Stina Roi McMath, who worked at the bank at the time, left a door unlocked after the bank closed for the night. A money dispenser inside the building was unlocked, as well, he told the court.
Mitchell, McMath, 24, and Rosally Mangual, 31, were charged in September.
McMath had recently begun her first year as a Jenks teacher when the case was filed, and she did not have a felony record when she was hired.
She resigned from her position as a Jenks language arts teacher Sept. 12, and the Jenks school board approved her resignation Sept. 17.
McMath and Mangual both pleaded guilty to their roles in the crime on Oct. 23. McMath admitted she intentionally left the door unlocked to allow Mitchell and Mangual to enter and also drove the pair to and from the bank.
Mangual and McMath, who are both free on bond, are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 18. Mitchell, who is in Tulsa Jail, is to be sentenced March 25.
— DAVID HARPER, World Staff Writer
Theft suspect is found with 150-year-old violin, police say
A man with two pending criminal cases was arrested Thursday on an allegation that he stole a 150-year-old violin.
Police were called to the Saied Music Store at 9320 E. 71st St. about 6 p.m. Thursday, where a man reported that his 150-year-old Klotz violin, which he said was valued at $10,000, had just been stolen, police said.
Officers were given a detailed description of the thief, which matched the description of a man who had just stolen an iPhone from a person at a nearby mattress store, police said.
Police canvassing the area spotted William Joseph Kent, 21, who matched the thief's description, and recovered the violin, the phone and a tin whistle that had been stolen from the music store, police said.
Kent was arrested about 6:30 p.m. and was jailed on complaints of grand larceny, larceny from a retailer and petty larceny. His bail was set at $3,500.
Tulsa County prosecutors had charged Kent on Tuesday with the second-degree burglary of an apartment in November.
He also faces a misdemeanor charge of larceny of merchandise from a retailer. Court filings allege that Kent stole merchandise valued at less than $500 from the Walmart at 81st Street and Lewis Avenue on Oct. 18.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Alabama man gets prison time in steroids conspiracy case
A man was sentenced to 18 months in prison Friday after pleading guilty to taking part in an interstate steroids conspiracy that a Tulsa federal judge found distributed more than 40,000 doses.
Edward Franklin Ward, 53, of Huntsville, Ala., was also ordered by U.S. Chief District Judge Gregory Frizzell to be partially responsible for a $685,741.26 judgment, along with Raymond Heller, 51, of Omaha, Neb.
The monetary judgment represents the proceeds the court found were generated by the conspiracy, which lasted from October 2008 until April 2010.
Heller was sentenced last January to five years of probation, with the first eight months under house arrest, plus 100 hours of community service.
Heller said in plea documents that, while working as a doctor in Nebraska, he signed prescriptions forwarded to him by Ward, primarily for testosterone, to clients of Ward's "anti-aging" business without having examined the clients.
Ward pleaded guilty in June 2011. Assistant Federal Public Defender Stephen Greubel told the court Friday that Ward's business was legitimate and had police officers, firefighters and attorneys as clients.
Frizzell ordered Ward, who is free on bond, to report to prison by March 6.
— DAVID HARPER, World Staff Writer
Homeless man found dead in Tulsa on Thursday identified
The state Medical Examiner's Office has identified a homeless man who was found dead Thursday morning.
Emergency responders found the body of Freeman Arkeketa Jr., 56, about 10 a.m. in the crawl space of an abandoned building in the 4200 block of Southwest Boulevard.
The Medical Examiner's Office has not yet ruled on his cause and manner of death.
Arkeketa was convicted of manslaughter in 1995 after his brother, Freddie Arkeketa, was found beaten to death near Archer Street and Cheyenne Avenue in 1994. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and was released in 2004, records show.
He was most recently incarcerated between October 2006 and September 2011 on an assault with a deadly weapon conviction.
- AMANDA BLAND, World Staff Writer
Broken Bow man is killed in McCurtain County head-on crash
A Broken Bow man was killed in a McCurtain County crash Friday morning, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.
Newton Wesley, 77, was driving a 1996 Chevrolet pickup north on a county road about three miles west of Broken Bow when a southbound 2007 GMC pickup went left of center on a curve and caused a head-on collision about 10 a.m., the OHP reported.
Wesley was pronounced dead at the scene, troopers said.
The driver of the GMC pickup, Lawrence J. Bachman, 62, also of Broken Bow, had internal and leg injuries and was flown in good condition to a Texarkana, Texas, hospital, troopers said.
Wesley was not wearing a seat belt, but Bachman was, troopers reported.
— DAVID HARPER, World Staff Writer
Former restaurant owner pleads guilty in $1 million meth case
A former area restaurant owner pleaded guilty Friday in a federal methamphetamine case and agreed to forfeit $1 million that prosecutors say are proceeds of the crime.
Francisco "Frank" Olmos Munoz Sr. admitted that he possessed and planned to sell more than 5 kilograms of methamphetamine on Nov. 30, when he was arrested by Tulsa police officers and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents.
DEA Special Agent Anthony Vaughn testified Dec. 13 that the investigation began with a traffic stop on Nov. 30 in which Jose Martin Sierra Garcia, 55, was found in possession of about 5 pounds of methamphetamine in pure "ice" form.
Sierra subsequently told authorities that he was keeping 26 more packages of the drug for Olmos at his apartment in the 71st Street and Yale Avenue area, Vaughn testified.
Olmos, who is in his mid-50s, was arrested when he picked up the drugs at the apartment on Nov. 30, Vaughn said.
The methamphetamine is worth more than $300,000 and was "fronted" to Olmos by a source in Mexico, Vaughn testified.
Olmos was indicted under seal Dec. 3, and the charge became public when he was arraigned Dec. 7.
U.S. District Judge James Payne is scheduled to sentence Olmos on March 28.
Olmos, who lists a Beggs address, had been involved in the local restaurant business for nearly 20 years, most recently operating El Mojito Mexican restaurant in Broken Arrow.
— DAVID HARPER, World Staff Writer
Suspect police called 'extremely violent' surrenders at Tulsa Jail
A man whom Tulsa police had described as "extremely violent" was arrested Friday.
Jarion Tyrone Hopson, 34, was charged Wednesday with multiple counts of domestic assault and kidnapping. The charges are in addition to domestic assault and kidnapping allegations filed against Hopson in October, court records show.
Hopson is accused of breaking a woman's arm, choking her, keeping her against her will and threatening to harm her further if she told anyone about the assault last month.
He surrendered at the Tulsa Jail shortly after 5 p.m. Friday, records show.
— DAVID HARPER, World Staff Writer
