By Patti Weaver
STILLWATER — A 26-year-old Cushing man, who admitted possessing copper wires stolen from Submersible Pump Inc. on Dec. 16, 2024, has been given a five-year suspended sentence except 180 days in jail, with an order to be transported to an inpatient treatment program after he has served his time, pay restitution, undergo substance abuse and mental health evaluations, take any recommended follow-up treatment, perform 30 hours of community service, maintain full-time employment, have random drug tests and obtain stable housing.
Because Gabriel James Butler did not have an agreement with the prosecution regarding his penalty, he could have received as much as a five-year prison term by Payne County Associate District Judge Michael Kulling, who gave him credit for the time he had already served when he was sentenced on Aug. 5, court records show.
Butler admitted “he was one of the individuals in the video at SPI stealing the scrap copper with his buddy around midnight earlier that day (in 2024) because he owed some people money. Butler said he loaded around 30 pounds of copper wiring into bags, then carried it back,” to his residence, according to an affidavit by Cushing Police Detective Jerrod Livergood.
“Butler said that some of the end pieces/connectors of the copper were in the car and the other pieces are in the house,” the affidavit said. Butler said that after another man stripped most of the copper, a woman “took the copper and sold it not knowing it was stolen,” the affidavit said.
“Officer David Smith reminded Butler that he was not under arrest (at that time) and that we wanted all of the stolen copper from SPI. Butler came back out to the fence carrying pieces of copper wires and a black duffle bag full of copper wires. I asked if he would set the items on the ground near my patrol truck, and he did at that time.
“The black duffle bag was very similar to the bag from the surveillance footage at SPI. Butler advised that this was the copper from SPI. (A woman who was not charged) came out and unlocked the car voluntarily, then opened the truck. Butler pointed at the black bag in the middle of the trunk indicating that this was one of the bags he used in the theft.
“Officer Smith advised that there was more stolen copper likely inside the house because the (Apple Air Tag) tracker was still in the immediate area, due to every time the phone that was searching for the signal was close to the fence line in front of Butler’s bedroom, it would change to a screen that says ‘connected signal is weak.’ Butler then went back inside looking for more of the stolen copper.
“Butler came out with another handful of copper wiring from his bedroom that was located on the southwest corner of the residence. The SPI owner’s cell phone Officer Smith was holding connected to the tracker and advised it was 34 feet from the device and pointed at Butler’s bedroom with a white arrow on the phone that was being used to track the stolen Apple Air Tag.
“Officer Smith spoke to Butler and requested consent to go inside his bedroom to retrieve the Apple Air Tag device. Butler deferred the request to the residence owner,” who said ‘go ahead,"” the affidavit said.
After the tracking device was found, “SPI owner Timothy Jones arrived on scene and took back possession of their cell phone. Jones looked at the copper that Butler provided and identified most of the copper that was brought out by Butler belonging to SPI. Jones was able to identify the type of wire and the connectors that were provided,” the affidavit said.
“Butler was previously convicted of knowingly concealing stolen property and two counts of petit larceny with the same victim on 3/19/2023 and 3/22/2023 for similar crimes of stealing copper from a building at SPI,” the affidavit said. Butler was sentenced on May 9, 2023, to 60 days in jail in that misdemeanor case, court records show.
