Christopher James McDonald
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Cushing man has been ordered to appear in Payne County District Court on Dec. 6 on charges of breaking into the Homestead Restaurant and an occupied house on S. Highland Avenue in Cushing — eight days after he was placed on probation for breaking into DBI company property and stealing a truck that he crashed in Lincoln County.
Christopher James McDonald, 32, jailed on $10,000 bail, was arrested by Cushing Police Officer Carson Watts at 5:10 am on Oct. 13, less than two hours after he was sent to a residence on S. Highland Avenue where a woman said she was awakened at 3:13 am to a notification from her Ring doorbell camera, an affidavit said.
She said “when she reviewed the video footage, she saw a man walk onto her front porch, reach for the door handle and attempt to open the door,” the affidavit said. She said “the man then walked off her porch and to the south where he attempted to check another door,” the affidavit said.
When she showed the officer her video footage, he recognized McDonald, who was subsequently arrested while he was walking to a convenience store at 5 am that day, the affidavit alleged.
During an interview, “At first, Christopher denied walking onto the porch. I showed Christopher the video that was supplied to me by the victim, and Christopher again changed his story. Christopher then told me that he did go to the victim’s house because he heard a female screaming.
“Christopher said he wanted to be a ‘good citizen’ and make sure the female was safe, so he pushed the doorbell camera and asked if she was okay. Christopher said he then walked around the house asking if anyone was okay.
“Christopher changed his story again and said that he sometimes hears voices and is crazy, which is why he had heard a female screaming,” the officer alleged in his affidavit.
That same day, Cushing Police Officer Christopher Haywood was sent to the Homestead Restaurant on Main Street regarding a burglary in which a window air conditioning unit had been pushed into the dish cleaning area, an affidavit said.
When the restaurant owner later brought video footage of the suspect to the police station, the officer recognized McDonald, who had been arrested earlier that morning, the affidavit alleged. In the footage, McDonald appeared to have a cigarette in his mouth, the affidavit alleged. A half-burned cigarette was found next to the cash register, which did not appear to have been disturbed, the affidavit said.
Eight days earlier, McDonald had pleaded guilty to breaking into DBI company property at 600 N. Euchee Valley Road, stealing a 2016 Dodge 2500 truck, and attempting to elude a Payne County sheriff’s deputy by speeding into Lincoln County where he crashed into a tree.
For those crimes that occurred on the day before Thanksgiving of 2020, McDonald was placed on seven years’ probation on Oct. 5, 2021, under a deferred sentence, with an order to pay $1,000 restitution, $450 fines, and a $720 prosecution fee along with a requirement to have a substance abuse evaluation, perform any recommended treatment, and undergo random drug tests, court records show.
