(Stillwater, Okla.) — Two 18-year-old men have been charged together with stealing a 2012 Mitsubishi Eclipse from Walmart’s parking lot on N. Perkins Road in Stillwater and conspiring to commit the theft.
Jaden Todd Davis of Yale and Branden Christopher Nicholson of Maramec traveled together and walked through the Stillwater parking lot until they found an unlocked vehicle that they allegedly stole, according to the conspiracy count.
If convicted of both felony counts, the teenagers could each be given a 30-year prison term and fined three times the value of the vehicle, in addition to a $5,000 fine for conspiracy, court records show.
Davis has also been charged with possessing a 1991 GMC Sierra pickup truck that was stolen in Tulsa before being abandoned north of Yale. He could receive an additional $5,000 fine and five-year prison term if convicted of that felony charge.
Davis has been jailed on $20,000 total bail on his charges on which he was due to appear in court this week. Nicholson has not been jailed on his conspiracy and car theft charges, but appeared in court Monday on a charge of public intoxication in Cushing. He was ordered to return to court on Dec. 1 on all of his charges.
Stillwater Police Detective Cody Manuel wrote in an affidavit that on the evening of Oct. 9 a man drove his 2012 Mitsubishi Eclipse to the Walmart on N. Perkins Road, parked it in the lot, and went inside to shop before returning 30 minutes later to find it stolen.
Surveillance video showed “Jaden Davis and Branden Nicholson arriving at the store with a female. The three walk throughout the parking lot and appear to be checking vehicles before entering the store.
“Davis and Nicholson then split from the female and return to the parking lot where they continue walking around and checking vehicles,” the affidavit alleged.
“Davis and Nicholson enter the area where the Mitsubishi Eclipse was parked and linger there for a while. They return to Davis’ vehicle for a moment.
“Nicholson then walks back to the Eclipse and drives it away. Davis also drives away in his truck. The two vehicles are seen on video leaving eastbound on Virginia with the truck following the Eclipse,” the affidavit alleged.
The detective wrote in his affidavit, “I spoke with Davis, who denied ever being at Walmart on that evening. I interviewed Nicholson, who told me he and Davis were at Walmart that evening.
“He said Davis gave him some keys to an Eclipse in the parking lot and asked him to drive it. Nicholson claimed Davis told him he owned the vehicle, but Nicholson also commented that the Eclipse was a much nicer vehicle than Davis could afford.
“Nicholson said he drove the vehicle to Pawnee and then Davis drove it away and he had not seen it since,” the affidavit alleged.
“The video shows coordination between Davis and Nicholson to work together to steal the vehicle and then depart together. This coordination would require planning,” the affidavit alleged.
In Davis’s other felony charge, he allegedly possessed a blue 1991 GMC Sierra pickup truck on Oct. 14 in Stillwater that had been stolen four days earlier in Tulsa, court records show.
In that case, the same Stillwater police detective contacted Davis at the Drug Court office in Stillwater as a suspect in an unrelated car theft case, an affidavit said.
“Davis arrived at the Drug Court offices driving a 1991 GMC Sierra pickup displaying Oklahoma tag 909FBN,” according to the affidavit by the detective, who took several photos of the vehicle.
“On Oct. 17, 2014, I observed the same 1991 GMC Sierra pickup as it had been abandoned on a county road north of Yale,” which had been stolen in Tulsa on Oct. 10, the affidavit alleged.
“The truck still displayed Oklahoma tag 909FBN. This tag did not belong on the vehicle and had apparently been affixed to it to conceal its identity.
“Since I had last seen the truck, its appearance had been modified by the removal of distinctive pinstripes that had been on both of its sides,” the detective alleged in his affidavit.
In Nicholson’s public intoxication charge, Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Cory Westbrook wrote in an affidavit that at about 1 a.m. on July 27, he was sent to the Highway 18 river bridge regarding a fight in progress involving weapons.
“Deputy Myers contacted a male (Mr. Nicholson) in the woods and walked him out to myself and Deputy Joseph Henninger. Mr. Nicholson advised me that he was involved in the fight,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“He advised that he had been drinking under the bridge and had drunk approximately six beers before the altercation,” the deputy, who arrested Nicholson for public intoxication, alleged in his affidavit.
***
