(Stillwater, Okla.) – An ex-convict from Cushing, who was released from prison two years ago, was charged Monday with shooting with intent to kill a man during an altercation reportedly over a drug transaction on the day after Thanksgiving in the 800 block of E. Cherry Street, two blocks from the Cushing hospital.
    Matthew Clayton Tarbox, 33, who fled the scene, was located and arrested about 1 a.m. on Saturday by Cushing police while investigating an unrelated disturbance call, according to a news release. Tarbox, whose first name is spelled as Mathew on prison records, was being held in the Payne County Jail on Monday pending his arraignment before a judge on Tuesday.
    Due to his criminal record, Tarbox could be incarcerated for 12 years to life if convicted of shooting with intent to kill after prior felony convictions. Tarbox could also be given as much as a 10-year prison term if convicted of being a felon in possession of a 9 mm pistol.
    His alleged victim was shot in the leg and treated for his injuries at the Cushing hospital, the news release said.
    According to Tulsa County court records, Tarbox pleaded guilty on Jan. 26 to possessing a stolen vehicle on Dec. 28, 2017, and was placed on four years’ probation except 45 days in jail with credit for time served.
    Tarbox had been charged in 2014 with possessing methamphetamine in Cushing, for which he was originally placed on 10 years’ probation, except 90 days in jail, but his suspended sentence was revoked in 2015 to five years in prison after he was terminated from the Payne County Drug Court program, court records show.
    However, when Tarbox was sentenced to prison, the judge told him that when he completed the Bill Johnson drug treatment program, he would again be put back on probation, which occurred in September 2016, court records show.
    Tarbox had previously been charged in 2011 with possessing methamphetamine in Stillwater, for which he was given a two-year prison term followed by four years of probation, court records show.
    His Stillwater methamphetamine prison sentence was ordered to run concurrently to a two-year prison term he was given in 2011 for drunk driving in Drumright and concurrently to a two-year prison term he was given in 2011 for placing body fluid on a government employee in Creek County while he was a prisoner, along with a concurrent one-year incarceration for domestic abuse in 2011 in Creek County, prison records show.
    According to court records, while Tarbox was in the Payne County Drug Court program to which he was admitted on July 31, 2014, he had continued positive drug tests, non-compliance and failure to report before he was terminated and arrested on March 23, 2015.
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