By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — Two ex-convicts from Ponca City, who are being held in the Payne County Jail on $200,000 bail each, are seeking jury trials on charges of armed robbery in connection with the theft of drugs at Yale Drug Store and a woman’s purse there, on the day after Christmas last year.
Tanner Blake Jensen, 28, who had gotten out of prison less than three weeks earlier, and Rodney Tyrone Fahs Jr., 26, who had gotten out of prison two months earlier, both appeared in court Friday before Payne County District Judge Phillip Corley, who scheduled their pre-trial hearings for April 26.
Their co-defendant, Everardo Rodriguez, 23, of Tonkawa, who had gotten out of prison six months earlier and was alleged to be the get-away driver, has not been apprehended, court records show.
Due to their criminal records, all three co-defendants face a minimum of a 40-year prison term to a maximum of two life sentences if convicted of two counts of armed robbery by two or more persons after prior felony convictions, court records show.
According to court records and the state Department of Corrections, Jensen had previously been convicted of:
* drug theft and second-degree burglary in Payne County in 2016 for which he was given two concurrent 20-year suspended sentences except two concurrent four-year prison terms of which he served 16 months prior to his release on Dec. 6, 2018;
* drug theft and second-degree burglary in Noble County in 2016 for which he was given two concurrent 10-year suspended sentences except two concurrent four-year prison terms of which he served 15 months;
* drug possession with intent to distribute, conspiracy, second-degree burglary and concealing stolen property in Kay County in 2016 for which he was given four concurrent four-year prison terms of which he served 13 months before beginning to serve three years of probation.
According to court records and the DOC, Fahs had previously been convicted of:
* conspiracy and second-degree forgery in Payne County in 2016 for which he was given a 10-year suspended sentence;
* methamphetamine possession in Kay County in 2015 for which he was given a 15-year suspended sentence except a five-year prison term of which he served one year prior to his release in October 2018;
* methamphetamine possession in Kay County in 2013 for which he was given a 10-year suspended sentence except one year in jail;
* maiming, first-degree robbery and conspiracy in Kay County in 2010 for which he was given an 18-month jail term followed by probation.
According to the DOC, Rodriguez had previously been convicted of:
* injuring or burning a public building in Kay County in 2016 for which he was placed on probation for three years that was changed in 2017 to a two-year prison term of which he served seven months prior to his release in June 2018;
* obstructing an officer in Kay County in 2016 for which he was placed on probation for two years that was changed in 2017 to a three-year prison term of which he served three months;
* drug distribution or possession in Kay County in 2016 for which he was placed on probation for two years that was changed in 2017 to a concurrent three-year prison term of which he served three months;
* assault and battery on a police officer in Kay County in 2015 for which he was placed on probation for two years that was changed in 2017 to a concurrent three-year prison term of which he served three months;
* drug distribution or possession in Kay County in 2015 for which he was placed on probation for two years that was changed in 2017 to a concurrent three-year prison term of which he served three months;
* obstructing an officer in Kay County in 2014 for which he was placed on probation for two years that was changed in 2017 to a concurrent three-year prison term of which he served three months;
* aggravated assault and battery on a police officer in Kay County in 2014 for which he was placed on probation for two years that was changed in 2017 to a concurrent three-year prison term of which he served three months.
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