By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict from Cushing — arrested on a Creek County warrant — was sentenced to five years in prison Friday followed by five years of probation by Payne County District Judge Phillip Corley for possessing a loaded 9 mm pistol in 2018 after two former felony convictions, to which he pleaded guilty.
As part of a plea bargain, Charles Darin Schonfield, 32, who previously lived in Oilton, was ordered to forfeit his weapon, undergo random drug tests and perform 50 hours of community service after his release from prison when he must begin paying $2,060 in fines and assessments.
Schonfield was given concurrent one-year jail terms Friday for possessing methamphetamine at the time of his firearm offense in 2018, as well as driving under suspension and having methamphetamine in Cushing on Jan. 20 of this year, along with violating his probation in a 2018 driving under suspension case in Payne County.
According to Creek County court records, last October Schonfield pleaded guilty to obtaining merchandise by false pretenses in Oilton, for which he was placed on four years’ probation and uttering a forged instrument in Drumright, for which he was given a concurrent one-year suspended sentence, with an order to pay $1,024 restitution.
Schonfield had been walking at about 1:18 a.m. on Aug. 16, 2018, near the Cushing Walmart when he was arrested by Cushing Police Officer Christopher Haywood on a Creek County warrant, an affidavit said.
Schonfield had been released from prison four years earlier after serving Creek County sentences for methamphetamine possession in 2012 and unauthorized use of a vehicle in 2011, state Department of Corrections records show.
In an affidavit, the Cushing officer said that he was driving to the Cushing Walmart at about 1:18 a.m. on Aug. 16, 2018, when he noticed “a white male wearing a camo-colored shirt walking westbound along the south side of the road,” at Harmony and Main Streets.
“I asked Schonfield if he was all right. Schonfield advised he was and that he had been walking since Norfolk. I asked Schonfield if he needed a ride to any place in Cushing city limits, but Schonfield advised he was fine,” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
When the officer told Schonfield about a possible arrest warrant from Creek County, “Schonfield advised he was aware of the warrant and requested I not take him to jail,” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
After confirming the Creek County arrest warrant, “While taking Schonfield into custody, I observed a small holster on his belt, located just under his back. I asked Schonfield if he had a gun on his person. Schonfield said no. I asked Schonfield if he had dropped a gun before I contacted him. Schonfield said no,” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
“After placing Schonfield into custody, I requested Sgt. Piatt attempt to locate a possible gun near the intersection of Harmony and Main. Sgt. Piatt walked the area with K9 Max and located a pistol southeast of the intersection. Sgt. Piatt announced, while Schonfield was standing next to me, that he found the pistol. Schonfield made the open statement, ‘Shit, he found the gun,"” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit.
“Upon handling and making safe the Taurus pistol, I removed a 12 round, full magazine and ejected a loaded round from the chamber,” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit. The pistol was confirmed as having been stolen in Canton, Texas, the affidavit said.
“After checking the pistol, I presented the found zip lock baggy of the crystal substance to Schonfield and told him I found it next to the gun. Schonfield said, ‘Yeah, I know,"” the Cushing officer wrote in his affidavit that noted the substance field-tested as methamphetamine.
According to the state Department of Corrections and court records, Schonfield had been released from prison in May 2014 after serving time for Creek County convictions of:
* methamphetamine possession in Drumright in 2012 for which he was given a five-year prison term followed by five years of probation;
* unauthorized use of a vehicle in 2011 for which he was originally given a 10-year deferred sentence that was changed in 2012 to a two-year prison term on which he was incarcerated for nine months before beginning to serve his consecutive sentence for methamphetamine possession.
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