Rural Agra man jailed on $75,000 bail on Payne County charges

  (Stillwater, Okla.) — A rural Agra man with an extensive criminal record in Creek County has been jailed on $75,000 bail pending an April 1 court appearance on a seven-count Payne County charge.

    Mark Anthony Gregory Jr., 44, who had been released from prison two years ago, was arrested in Ripley at 10 pm on Feb. 27, Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Brandon Myers wrote in an affidavit that was filed in March.

    On Feb. 28, the Payne County sheriff’s investigator had obtained a search warrant for Gregory’s property in Lincoln County from which a Cushing man’s 1999 Ford F450 flatbed pickup truck with gin poles was recovered in front of a barn on the west side, his affidavit alleged.

    Recovered from a barn on the east side of Gregory’s property were items that had been stolen from the 3700 block of S. Brush Creek Road in rural Stillwater — a 10×10 commercial tent bag, a 10×20 commercial tent, a folding table, a propane grill, a three-ton floor jack, two OSU cheer banners, camping chairs, and tubs of tailgating supplies, the affidavit alleged. A stolen pressure washer was hooked up to a garden hose at the northeast corner of a camper, the affidavit alleged.

    On the south side of the barn, the investigator found a 2004 Chrysler Town and Country van that had not yet been reported stolen; when the registered owner was contacted, he said that he had left his van on rural Ripley property about a month and half earlier when he moved, but when he returned it was gone, the affidavit alleged.

    “On Feb. 28, 2024, at about 9 pm, I interviewed Mark Gregory at the Payne County Sheriff’s Office. Mark admitted that he had stolen the Ford F450 himself but knew about the property through Thomas Lumpkin. He told me that Thomas was upset with him because he stole the truck out from under him.

    “He admitted to stealing the Ford F250 from ‘the old man down the road’ and said he was the only one involved in stealing it,” the investigator alleged in his affidavit.

    Gregory admitted he used the stolen Ford F250 and said that he and Lumpkin stole all the item from the 3700 block of S. Brush Creek Road in Stillwater, the affidavit alleged.

    “He said they went there twice, before and after midnight, the night they stole the items. He told me that he hauled the items for Thomas (Lumpkin) because he had the truck,” the investigator alleged in his affidavit.

    On March 1, the investigator met with the owner of property in the 3400 block of E. Grandstaff in Cushing, according to his affidavit.

    “I learned that the Ford F450 and the New Holland tractor that were stolen were parked in a locked building on the property,” the investigator wrote in his affidavit.

    “The suspect(s) also cut the copper wire leading into the breaker box mounted inside the shop. Directly east of the building is a large transformer.

    “The lock on the transformer door was broken, and the suspects cut the copper wire that runs from the transformer into conduit that is buried between the building and the transformer. The copper wire had been pulled from the conduit and stolen,” the affidavit alleged.

    “While I was searching the stolen truck that Mark Gregory was operating, I located cut copper wire in the bed of the truck,” which also had bolt cutters and other tools commonly used to steal copper wire,” the investigator alleged in his affidavit.

    “Mark Gregory is currently being supervised by Payne County Probation and Parole and is on a suspended sentence out of Creek County for similar crimes,” the Payne County investigator wrote in his affidavit.

    Thomas Lumpkin, who has not been charged in connection with the thefts according to court records, is on DOC parole for earlier Payne County charges for which he was sentenced to five years in prison for similar crimes, the affidavit alleged.

    Due to his criminal record, Gregory could receive four life prison terms plus 21 years if convicted of his current charges consisting of burglary of the Grandstaff property in Cushing, theft of a Ford F-450 flatbed pickup truck with gin poles from that location, entering the property with intent to steal copper wire, burglary of the Brush Creek Road property, theft of more than $15,000 worth of items from that property, possession of a stolen Ford F250 pickup truck, and affixing an unauthorized “city government” tag to that truck, court records show.

    According to court records, Gregory had been convicted in Creek County of possessing a drug with intent to distribute in 2005, of second-degree burglary in 2006, of second-degree burglary in 2008, of drunk driving in 2015, of possessing a stolen vehicle in 2019, and of possessing a stolen vehicle, being a felon in possession of a firearm and concealing stolen property, all in 2020.