By Patti Weaver
STILLWATER — A 33-year-old Stillwater man, who was on probation for uttering a forged instrument in Perkins and committing a burglary at Oklahoma State University, has been given a five-year prison term for stealing an E-bike valued at $1,195 from behind a bar south of OSU while he had methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia for which he received two concurrent one-year jail terms.
After admitting his guilt to all three counts on April 11, Nicholas Ryan Brown was sentenced in accordance with a plea agreement with the prosecution that was approved by District Judge Jason Reese, who also revoked the balance of his probation to prison.
Brown, who had been arrested about 5 am on Oct. 19, 2024, “stated that he had seen the bike sitting behind the bar and thought it looked like his bike. Nicholas stated that he knew that it was not his bike but decided to take it so he could get around town,” Stillwater Police Officer Gaige Ellis wrote in an affidavit.
“Later it was discovered that Nicholas had two grams of a white crystal-like substance that tested presumptive positive for methamphetamine,” and a glass smoking pipe, the affidavit said.
The police officer had been sent at 3:46 am on Oct. 19, 2024, to the bar where an employee said his stolen E-bike was a black Super 73 Z Miami with aftermarket front/rear lights that had an Apple Air tag, which was not currently responding, the affidavit said.
“I viewed the cameras from the bar and observed a white male wearing a dark hoodie, baseball cap, jeans, and appeared to have a beard or face mask on his chin. The suspect climbed down the embankment on the east side of the building, collected the bike and left the scene heading northbound.
“Later on, at 5:02 am, (the bar employee) contacted the Stillwater Police Department to report that the Air tag was pinging his bike at around 600 S. Orchard. Officers searched the area and eventually located a male matching the description of the suspect from this case, riding a bike that matched the description as well,” the affidavit said.
“I arrived on scene and checked the serial number on the bottom of the bike and was able to confirm that it was the bike stolen from 501 S. Washington,” the officer wrote in his affidavit.
According to Payne County court records and the state Department of Corrections, Brown had been placed on two years’ probation in January of 2023 for uttering a forged instrument in Perkins in 2021. Brown was charged in 2022 with second-degree burglary at OSU and given in January of 2023 a two-year prison term, of which he served three months, followed by five years of probation.
Brown had also been charged with drug possession in the presence of a child in 2012 for which he was sent to the prison boot camp program and then placed on five years of probation under a deferred sentence, which was changed to a suspended sentence, followed by an order to go to drug treatment and then to participate in Payne County Drug Court in 2019, but in 2020 his probation was revoked to one year in jail, court records show.
