Convicted sex offender ordered tried on gun charge

  (Stillwater, Okla.) — A convicted sex offender, who was arrested outside a store on S. Perkins Road in rural Stillwater, waived his right to a preliminary hearing this week on a charge of illegally possessing a .22 caliber pistol.

    Joseph Anthony Smart, 46, of Midwest City, remains jailed on $25,000 bail pending his arraignment in trial court on Friday before Payne County District Judge Phillip Corley.

    Smart was arrested at 8:07 am on Jan. 3 by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Daryn Zanfardino, who was sent to the store on a call at 7:45 am from an employee that “she had what she believed to be a homeless person by the propane tanks that she wanted a deputy to check on,” an affidavit said.

    “I contacted the individual and he stated that he was waiting for the store to open so that he could put money on his cash app card to get a ride from here to Oklahoma City,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit.

    “Payne County dispatch advised that Smart had a warrant out of Oklahoma County that was entered into NCIC (National Crime Information Center),” the affidavit alleged.

    “Sheriff’s Deputy Zack Wheeler asked Smart if he had any weapons or anything, and Smart advised that he did have a pistol in his backpack. I asked Smart if he was a felon, and he nodded his head yes,” Deputy Zanfardino alleged in his affidavit.

    “I informed Smart that he was under arrest for his Oklahoma County warrants. Deputy Wheeler located Smart’s firearm in a bag that Smart had placed next to the propane tanks,” Deputy Zanfardino alleged in his affidavit.

    Smart was booked into the Payne County Jail on his Oklahoma County warrants and an additional Payne County count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, the affidavit said. Smart’s .22-caliber pistol was magazine loaded with seven .22 caliber cartridges, the affidavit alleged.

    According to court records and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Smart had previously been convicted of soliciting sexual conduct or communication with a minor by use of technology in Pottawatomie County in 2015 for which he served about 14 months of a four-year sentence prior to his release from prison in July of 2016.

    Smart also was convicted of violating sex offenders’ registration in 2017 in Oklahoma County for which he served about eight months of a two-year prison term before his release in July of 2018.

    Smith had also been convicted of domestic assault and battery by strangulation in 2013 in Oklahoma County for which he served about one year before his release in March of 2014. Smith had also been convicted in 2013 of possession of a drug with intent to distribute in 2008 in Oklahoma County for which he was incarcerated for about one year.