(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Cushing man — on probation for making a false pawn ownership declaration regarding gold rings stolen in a residential burglary in 2011 — was charged today with breaking into a building at Park Place Baptist Church in Cushing on Jan. 21.
Christopher Paul Hickman, 24, was arraigned from the Payne County Jail on Jan. 22 by Special District Judge Katherine Thomas, who ordered him released on a personal recognizance bond after the prosecution said it did not have a probable cause affidavit.
Hickman appeared in court today without an attorney and was ordered to return on Feb. 27 with counsel to represent him on the second-degree burglary charge, which carries a maximum penalty of a seven-year prison term on conviction.
Hickman was accused of pulling open the left double door to the fellowship hall of Park Place Baptist Church in Cushing and entering into the building without consent — with the intention of stealing a 42-inch Panasonic flat screen television, according to the charge filed today by prosecutor Mike Kulling.
Two years ago, Hickman pleaded guilty to a felony charge of making a false declaration of ownership of gold rings to the Mo Money Pawn Shop in Cushing on July 15, 2011.
Hickman was placed on three years’ probation under a deferred sentence with an order to pay $375 restitution, have a substance abuse evaluation, perform any recommended follow-up and undergo random drug and alcohol testing.
The day before the rings were pawned, a woman reported that her rural residence had been burglarized, according to an affidavit by Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator George Disel.
She said that among other items, four gold rings with diamonds — two of which had the victim’s and her husband’s name engraved on the inside — were stolen, the affidavit said.
The day after the burglary, Hickman sold the rings to Ron Snow, the owner of Mo Money Pawn in Cushing and signed a bill “claiming that he had owned the rings for six months,” the affidavit said.
“These rings had been smashed with some hard object such as a hammer,” the affidavit said.
The deputy and the pawn shop owner pried the bands apart and identified the two rings with the victims’ names in them as those belonging to the burglary victim, the affidavit said.
The burglary victim viewed photos of the rings and identified the other two without names in the bands also as her property, the affidavit said.
Two weeks later, the sheriff’s investigator questioned Hickman, who admitted to having lied on the bill of sale and claimed that he had been given the rings by a man who is a burglary suspect in the case, the affidavit said.
***
