By Patti Weaver

 

  (Stillwater, Okla.) — A 32-year-old Chandler man currently incarcerated for multiple property crimes in Lincoln County was given two 10-year prison terms Friday for embezzling from Ward Electric in Cushing and making a false claim of ownership of a stolen trailer to a Perkins pawn shop.
    Kyle Thomas Brown’s prison terms from Payne County were ordered to run concurrently to sentences he has been serving since October of 2023 when he was terminated from the Lincoln County Drug Court program.
    Brown was sentenced Friday by Payne County District Judge Phillip Corley, who also ordered him to pay $3,600 restitution as part of a plea agreement with the prosecution.
    His Cushing case was investigated by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Hopper, who was contacted by the owner of Ward Electric on Feb. 20, 2021, that he recently learned Brown as a former employee had stolen several items from him, an affidavit said.
    Ward “reviewed his camera footage and observed Kyle stealing copper wire from the shop,” the affidavit said. Six rolls of copper, each about 25 feet long, were new for upcoming jobs, the affidavit said.
    On the footage, “Kyle can be seen carrying rolls of copper out of the shop and loading it into his truck,” when he was supposed to be on various other job sites, the affidavit said. The business owner said, “he keeps 55-gallon barrels at the shop where he puts all his scrap copper,” about 500 pounds of which was stolen, the affidavit said.
  The business owner also said that on four separate occasions, “Kyle put gas into his vehicle and forged the signature of a different employee on the fuel receipts,” from a Cushing gas station, the affidavit said.
    The business owner said that he was subcontracted to a business for which he ordered two ceiling vents that Brown stole, the affidavit said.
    The deputy wrote in his affidavit, “I went to Mullins Salvage in Cushing to see if Kyle had sold any copper wire at that location. Mullins Salvage provided me with receipts and pictures of Kyle selling copper at that location. While I was speaking with the employees at Mullins, one of the employees remembers Kyle showing up at this location with several rolls of copper with coating over the wire and watching Kyle strip the copper in the back of his truck outside the front gate.”
    In a separate case, Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Brandon Myers was contacted by Lincoln County Sheriff’s Captain Larry Stover “about a criminal investigation of stolen property with the suspect being Kyle Thomas Brown,” who was arrested on March 1, 2022, for stealing a trailer in the Chandler area, an affidavit said.
    “Kyle has been a suspect in many thefts across the state of Oklahoma,” the Payne County Sheriff’s investigator wrote in his affidavit.
    “Kyle was interviewed on March 1, 2022, by Chandler PD Detective Jimmy Ahrend and Detective Stover; Kyle admitted to selling a trailer stolen from the Davenport area in Lincoln County,” that he sold to 33 Pawn on Highway 33 in Perkins, the affidavit said.
    The pawn shop purchased the trailer valued at $4,195 for $1,100, the affidavit said. “Kyle signed the pawn ticket that he was the lawful property owner and owned the trailer for one day,” the affidavit said.
    According to the state Department of Corrections, Brown was previously convicted of:
    * second-degree burglary and possessing stolen property in Creek County in 2014 for which he was given two concurrent two-year prison terms in 2015, but only served six months;
    * grand larceny in Creek County in 2014 for which he was given a consecutive three-year prison term, but only served eight months;
    * three counts of grand larceny plus one count each of possessing stolen property and making a false declaration of ownership to a pawn shop in Lincoln County in 2022, for which he was given five concurrent prison terms in October of 2023 that he remains serving;
    * pattern of criminal offenses in 2023 in Lincoln County for which he was given a concurrent prison term of two years in October of 2023;
    * being a felon in possession of a gun and making a false declaration of ownership to a pawn shop in 2015 in Lincoln County for which he was given two concurrent three-year prison terms to begin serving in October of 2025;
    * being a felon in possession of a gun and making a false declaration of ownership to a pawn shop in 2022 in Oklahoma County for which he was given two concurrent 10-year probationary terms in 2023.