By Patti Weaver

 

  (Stillwater, Okla.) — A Perkins man has been ordered to appear before a Payne County judge on Aug. 7 on a felony charge accusing him of concealing a welder that was stolen north of Perkins and offered for sale on Facebook Marketplace, court records allege.
    Jesse Jo Brown, 32, who remains free on $20,000 bail, could be given up to a 10-year prison term and a fine of three times the value of the Miller Trailblazer EFI Excel Power welder if convicted of knowingly concealing or receiving stolen construction/farm equipment, court records show.
    Andrew Blake McKinney, 23, of Cushing, who was also charged in the felony case, has not yet been arrested on a warrant issued five months ago, court records show.
    A Perkins man reported on Oct. 9, 2022, “that his homemade welding trailer had been stolen,” Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Brandon Myers wrote in an affidavit.
    He said that his trailer, valued at $1,000, had a welder worth $5,300, various tools worth $500, a cutting torch with hoses worth $200, and four oxyacetylene bottles with a total value of $800, the affidavit alleged.
    “He also reported that Jesse Brown had left a note with his phone number at their residence that he was interested in purchasing one of their trucks parked at their house,” the affidavit alleged.
    When the investigator drove by Brown’s residence to look for him and the stolen welder on Oct. 20, 2022, he saw McKinney in a pickup backing out of Brown’s driveway, the affidavit alleged.
    “I asked Andrew (McKinney) where Jesse (Brown) was. He told me that he was not sure but was welding on a ship. I told him we had a welding trailer with a welder and torches stolen north of Perkins…he told me that he had not seen the welder or trailer,” the investigator alleged in his affidavit.
    The next day, the Perkins man “called and told me that he might have found his welder on Facebook Marketplace for sale in Edmond,” the investigator alleged in his affidavit.
    The welder was recovered, the affidavit said.
    “I learned that Jesse Brown had found a truck that he was interested in on Facebook Marketplace for sale,” contacted the truck owner and offered to trade the welding trailer for the truck, the affidavit alleged.
    On Oct. 12, 2022, “Jesse and Andrew McKinney used Andrew’s truck to pull the welder to Edmond, where Jesse traded it for the truck,” the affidavit alleged.
    “The picture that Jesse sent (the truck owner) of the welding trailer and welder was (the Perkins man’s) welding trailer and welder sitting in the back yard of Jesse’s house,” in Perkins, the affidavit alleged.
    When the investigator interviewed Jesse Brown on Nov. 2, 2022, “Jesse told me he did not steal the welder and trailer. He told me he bought it from Andrew McKinney’s friend. He said he paid $5,000 for it from winnings at the casino in Perkins…He told me that he had an idea that it was stolen.
    “He told me that Andrew is homeless, has been sleeping in his driveway, doesn’t have a job and uses methamphetamine…He told me that he later found out that Andrew was the one that stole the trailer and welder. He told me that when he went to look at the truck (the Perkins man) had for sale, Andrew stole fuel from a tank on their property.
    “That day I recovered numerous items that had been taken out of the trailer that belonged to (the Perkins man) and placed around a tree in Jesse’s backyard. Those items included welding gauges, different-sized pipe caps and multiple bevel saddle-cutting guides. I returned those items,” to the Perkins man, the investigator alleged in his affidavit.
    The next day when the investigator interviewed McKinney, “He told me that he did not steal the trailer and welder. He said that Jesse told him he stole diesel fuel from out there…I brought up the time I talked to him when he was leaving Jesse’s house looking for and specifically describing the welder and trailer to him. He said he messed up and was just trying to cover for his buddy.
    “He finally admitted that he stole diesel from (the Perkins man) using the pump and tank in his truck. He told me that with the circumstances, he had an idea that the trailer and welder were stolen. He thinks another thief that is friends with Jesse probably helped Jesse take the trailer,” the investigator alleged in his affidavit.
    “In totality, Jesse and Andrew blame each other for their crimes. Jesse and Andrew both admittingly knew that the welding trailer belonging to (the Perkins man) had been stolen. Jesse contacted (another man) offering to trade the stolen trailer and welder for (that man’s) truck. Jesse and Andrew used Andrew’s truck to pull the trailer and welder from Jesse’s house to Edmond and traded it,” for another man’s truck, the affidavit alleged.