
By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 66-year-old Depew man, who was stopped for driving without headlights at night in rural Perkins, has been jailed on $10,000 bail pending his arraignment this afternoon on charges of possessing a 1997 Jeep stolen in Pottawatomie County, and also driving on Highway 33 and Highway 177 while his license was suspended.
Jack Charles Coppola was arrested by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Don Howard, who was sent at 8:39 pm on March 14 to the area of Fairgrounds Road and Highway 33 for a reckless driver, according to his affidavit.
“I observed the vehicle westbound on Highway 33 and Lovers Lane in Perkins, Oklahoma, driving without headlights. Due to safety concerns, we moved the traffic stop to the Sonic Drive-In located at 1202 N. Main Street in Perkins,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit filed last week.
“I asked Jack if he knew why I was contacting him, to which he replied ‘no.’ I informed him that he was driving without headlights and asked for his driver’s license,” which he said he did not have, the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“Jack also stated that he was coming from a Sonic and got a ‘big mac and a chocolate shake, a ways back.’ However, he could not tell me the name of the town where he had stopped. Dispatch later informed me that Jack’s driving status was suspended,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“When asked where he was coming from again, he stated that he was driving to Prague, Oklahoma, going to Arizona. Jack was asked again where he was driving from and he changed his answer to Depew, Oklahoma,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
After asking a dispatcher to check the Jeep’s registration by vehicle identification number, “I placed Jack in investigative detention and placed him in handcuffs to the rear, and placed him in the backseat of the patrol vehicle because he kept putting his hands in his pockets and attempting to walk away” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“Payne County Investigator Lew Kellison called and advised that the vehicle had just been reported as stolen out of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma,” the affidavit alleged.
“During the inventory of the vehicle, I located the owner’s manual, insurance verification form, a flare, a pair of gloves, and a fire extinguisher bolted to the floorboard of the vehicle on the passenger side,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
“Payne County Undersheriff Marvin Noyes advised that we could store the vehicle at the Payne County Sheriff’s Office’s Maintenance building until the owner could get the vehicle,” the affidavit said
If convicted of possessing a stolen vehicle, Coppola could be given a prison term of one to 10 years plus a fine of $500 to $5,000, court records show. If convicted of the misdemeanor count of driving on a suspended license, Coppola could be given up to one year in jail and a fine of $100 to $500, court records show.
According to court records and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Coppola was convicted in 2000 by a jury in Lincoln County of stalking and given a five-year prison term but he only served about two years. Coppola had also been placed on probation in Creek County for assault and battery on a police officer, resisting an officer, and breaking and entering, all in Depew in 2003.
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