Elijah Erlebach
(PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — In a remarkably rapid verdict, a Payne County jury took only 35 minutes to convict a man, who considers himself a sovereign citizen and represented himself at his trial last week, of child stealing, possessing guns illegally, and obstructing an officer in rural Stillwater.
Jurors recommended that Elijah David Erlebach, 32, receive a seven-year prison term plus a $500 fine for stealing a 6-year-old girl from a foster home, a seven-year prison term plus a $10,000 fine for possessing guns while child stealing, and a $500 fine for giving an officer an incorrect birthdate and refusing to provide his social security number.
District Judge Phillip Corley ordered Erlebach, of Bowling Green, Mi., held without bail pending his Dec. 8 sentencing. The child’s biological mother, Samantha Siong Ricks, 46, of Mableton, Ga., has been scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 8 for a pre-trial hearing on charges of child stealing and illegally possessing guns.
The couple had been arrested at 3:18 pm on Aug. 6, 2022, by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Jacob Secrest about 25 minutes after he was dispatched on a report that a kidnapping had just occurred, an affidavit alleged.
“While checking the neighborhood, dispatch received a call from the victim’s foster father, who was behind the blue GMC Sierra and had identified it as the suspect vehicle. I was able to catch up to them at the stop sign at 6th and Brushcreek,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“The truck was bearing a license plate I have never seen before. It was an ‘American National’ tag. It did not appear to be an official license plate. I exited my patrol vehicle and approached the driver’s door and signaled for the driver to roll the window down. The back windows were dark tinted, but I could tell there was another adult in the back seat and a child in a car seat next to the driver’s rear door.
“The driver, later identified as Elijah Erlebach, cracked his window approximately two inches and placed his sovereign citizen ID against the window. I instructed Elijah to roll down all his windows and Elijah refused. I told Elijah he was under investigation for possible kidnapping and to roll down his windows or I would have him exit the vehicle and Elijah refused.
“I opened Elijah’s door and ordered him to exit the vehicle, and Elijah tried to tell me he was not allowed to be detained or arrested. I again told Elijah to step out of the vehicle and as I did, I grabbed Elijah’s left wrist and arm. I pulled Elijah from the vehicle and took him to the ground utilizing an arm bar technique.
“Elijah rolled to his back and I ordered him to roll to his stomach while dragging him back over with his left arm. I placed my knee in Elijah’s lower back and as I did, I heard the back door of the truck open. As I looked up, I saw the adult female in the back seat, later identified as Samantha Ricks, leaning out of the door over the child,” identified as the kidnapping victim, the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“I did not know if there were any weapons in the vehicle, so I drew my service weapon and aimed it at her and ordered her to exit the vehicle. Samantha refused,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit. The child’s foster father, who is commissioned as a reserve deputy with the Payne County Sheriff’s Office, “had also drawn his weapon when I drew mine,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
“After Samantha refused numerous commands to exit the vehicle from both of us, (the reserve deputy) holstered his weapon and grabbed Samantha and pulled her from the vehicle,” before getting her hands behind her back and putting his right knee on top of her arms on her low back, while attempting to calm the screaming child, the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“I handcuffed Elijah and patted him down removing a knife from his pocket. On the ground under Elijah were two magazines for a 1911-stye pistol. Both magazines were fully loaded. Elijah did not have a pistol on his person,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
After being secured in handcuffs, “Samantha stated her kids had been kidnapped and she was taking them back. When I asked Samantha to confirm her kids were wards of the state, Samantha stated she would remain silent. During this time, an AR-15 was located in the truck with a pistol. Both firearms had full magazines and were chamber loaded,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
The reserve deputy confirmed that the 6-year-old girl “was in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services and was placed into his foster care,” the affidavit alleged. After the defendants were arrested and transported to the Payne County Jail, the deputy went to the home of the reserve deputy and his wife, the affidavit said.
The foster parents said that the 6-year-old girl and 5-year-old boy had been playing outside, the affidavit alleged. The girl had been riding her bike when the boy “came running inside screaming that his mother, Samantha, was there,” the affidavit alleged. The boy told his foster mother that the girl had been riding her bike in front of a friend’s house “when Samantha came down the street, grabbed her, threw her into ‘a blue truck (Elijah’s truck’) and drove off,” the affidavit alleged.
The foster father later learned from the girl that “Samantha told her they were circling back around the neighborhood to grab (the boy) too,” the affidavit alleged. The DHS caseworker confirmed that both children have been in DHS custody and placed in foster care,” with the reserve deputy and his wife since Dec. 22, 2021, the affidavit alleged.
In petitions for emergency protective orders issued on Aug. 9, 2022, against the defendants, the foster mother alleged that the couple were partners, who “had guns and bullet-proof vests — claiming to be sovereign citizens.”
