(Stillwater, Okla.) – A 33-year-old man jailed on $50,000 bail has been ordered to appear in court on Nov. 12 for preliminary hearings on a raft of charges including armed robbery in Stillwater, methamphetamine possession in Cushing, and possession of stolen property in Stillwater.
If convicted of all of his criminal counts, former Cushing resident Joshua Chad Arnett, who now lists a Fargo, N.D. address, could be given a life prison term plus 31 years, court records show.
In his latest case, Arnett was arrested at 8 a.m. on Sept. 21 by Cushing Police Sgt. Jack Ford, who initially stopped Arnett for speeding 62 mph in a posted 45 mph zone on Main Street, an affidavit alleged.
While Arnett’s female passenger was looking in the glove box for insurance, “I noticed Arnett reaching under his seat appearing trying to hide something,” Ford alleged in his affidavit.
When the sergeant opened Arnett’s wallet, he found Arnett’s casino card and numerous identification cards — including an OSU ID card reported as stolen two weeks earlier in Stillwater, the affidavit alleged.
With the permission of Arnett’s female passenger, who allowed police to search her car, the sergeant found under the driver’s seat a glasses case containing methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia that Arnett said was his, the affidavit alleged.
In a backpack behind the driver’s seat, the sergeant found a set of digital scales, a credit card scanner, two strap-on head flashlights and several items commonly used by a burglar, the affidavit alleged.
In another backpack behind the passenger seat, the sergeant found “more screwdrivers, pliers and miscellaneous tools,” the affidavit alleged.
“I also seized a black small pouch that contained cell phones, cell phone batteries and an IPod,” the sergeant alleged in his affidavit.
“Through further investigation, it was found that Arnett’s driver’s license had a restriction Interlock required,” the affidavit alleged.
That arrest occurred about six months after Arnett was freed on $20,000 bond on a charge of helping to rob a Stillwater man of $27 with an imitation firearm on Nov. 19, 2014, court records show.
Arnett, then listing an address in Cushing, was also charged with possessing methamphetamine and marijuana on Dec. 3, 2014, while speaking to a deputy about a stolen gun that Arnett said he no longer possessed, an affidavit alleged.
“During this interview, he stated that these items (the drugs) were not his. He did state, however, he drives the person around, whom this belongs to, while transactions are made and receives payment in the form of rent for doing so,” Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Nack alleged in an affidavit.
In another felony case, Arnett was charged with knowingly concealing a stolen 2015 tag decal sticker on Oct. 1, 2014 on Highway 177 in Stillwater from the owner, Melton Truck Lines in Tulsa, which confirmed that it had been stolen, court records allege.
