(Stillwater, Okla.) — A barber, who served a prison term for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, was charged Monday with stealing a customer’s car on Interstate 35 in rural Payne County — after giving him a haircut Saturday in Oklahoma City.
Danta Ramone Thomas, 36, of Waurika, who was arrested in Noble County Saturday, was in the Payne County Jail this morning pending his arraignment this afternoon on a charge of larceny of his customer’s 2004 Audi, Payne County Sheriff’s Captain Kevin Woodward said.
The customer said that he was kidnapped at gunpoint in Oklahoma City at 2:30 p.m. Saturday by his barber, later identified as Thomas, Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Chris McKosato alleged in an affidavit.
The customer said that his barber “asked for a ride, after finishing with a haircut, to pick up some food and asked to be dropped off at a cousin’s house,” the affidavit said.
Once they arrived at a residence, the barber pulled a gun and demanded his customer’s watch, ring, bracelet and other items, which the customer gave to the barber, the affidavit alleged.
The customer said that his barber “told him to drive him to Wichita, Kansas, making him drive to Interstate 35 and proceeding north at about Interstate 35 and State Highway 51 exit,” the affidavit alleged.
The customer said that his barber “told him he was going to shoot and kill him once they arrived in Kansas,” the affidavit alleged.
The customer said his barber “was looking towards the back window — preoccupied with saying there was a cop behind them,” the affidavit alleged.
The customer started a struggle for the gun, drove his Audi off the road and ended up going through a fence,” the affidavit alleged.
The customer said that the gun ended up on the dashboard, the affidavit alleged.
When the Audi came to a stop, the customer got out of the car and a passer-by offered him help, the affidavit alleged.
The customer said that his barber got the gun, jumped into the driver’s seat and drove north on I-35, while the customer was still with the passer-by, the affidavit alleged.
The passer-by gave the customer a ride and they traveled north on I-35 — where the customer saw his Audi parked on the side of the road, the affidavit alleged.
A truck driver had spotted the Audi and contacted the Oklahoma Highway Patrol with a description of a man who got out of it and ran east into a field, the affidavit alleged.
“Troopers arrived on scene and recovered the vehicle. Along with Perry Police Department Lt. Josh Carson and a K-9 unit, the troopers were able to track Thomas approximately one mile east of the abandoned vehicle,” the affidavit alleged.
At the Noble County Sheriff’s office, the customer — who said that Thomas was his barber for several months — identified Thomas as the suspect, the affidavit alleged.
According to state Department of Corrections records, Thomas had been released from prison about a year and a half ago after serving about half of a six-year prison term for assault and battery upon state agency employees in Oklahoma County in 2010.
Thomas also served about half of two concurrent prison terms for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and second-degree burglary, both in Oklahoma County in 2006, after his probation was revoked in 2010, DOC records show.
If convicted of stealing his customer’s Audi after a former felony conviction, Thomas could be given a 20-year prison term and a fine equal to three times the value of the car, court records show.***
