Kerry A Rich
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Creek County man accused of stealing a 2000 Continental 16-foot dual axel box trailer with construction tools valued at $21,178 from a rural Cushing yard has been ordered held in the Payne County Jail on $10,000 bail pending a March 7 court appearance.
Due to his extensive criminal record, Kerry Allen Rich, 33, of Sapulpa, could be given a prison term of four years to life if convicted of grand larceny in Payne County.
Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Brandon Myers wrote in an affidavit that on Aug. 20, 2021, Deputy Bobby Miller took a report that the box trailer was stolen from a couple’s yard on W. 9th Street in rural Cushing.
“The trailer was stolen at about 5:56 that morning and was caught on camera westbound west of the victims’ residence being pulled by a red pickup truck,” the affidavit alleged.
About two months later, the sheriff’s investigator “received an investigative lead that Kerry Rich was involved in stealing the trailer,” his affidavit alleged.
“I learned that Kerry was in the Creek County Jail and had been there since two days after the theft of the trailer,” the sheriff’s investigator wrote in his affidavit.
“On Oct. 15, 2021, I went to the Creek County Jail and attempted to interview Kerry. He would not speak with me. I was able to get jail phone calls that Kerry had made. He was attempting to bond out of jail and had (his girlfriend) sell his stuff to get enough money to make the bond.
“Through the jail phone conversation, it appeared that (his girlfriend) had sold his items and then kept and spent the money,” the sheriff’s investigator alleged in his affidavit.
In a phone call with a relative, Rich asked what happened to money for bail to get him out of jail, the affidavit alleged.
Rich allegedly said, “There was, there’s 15,000, $20,000 stuff over there. I’ve been stealing every night,” according to a transcript of the phone call.
“I need it for my bond, you know what I mean? What did the girl do with it?” Rich asked his relative, who reported that she did not know, the affidavit alleged.
Rich told his relative that a trailer had $25,000 worth of tools in it, the affidavit alleged.
On Nov. 5, 2021, the Payne County sheriff’s investigator contacted Rich’s girlfriend in Creek County, according to his affidavit.
“I explained to her that I was investigating the theft of a trailer and I had learned that she was with Kerry when the trailer was stolen on the morning of 8/20/2021. I told her that I had a witness that put her and Kerry at a residence the morning of the theft and that Kerry’s phone or device was at the scene of the theft.
“I explained to her that I had learned through jail phone calls between Kerry and her and other parties that she had sold the red Ford and the trailer that was stolen. She agreed and told me she had sold the red Ford truck,” to a Sapulpa man, the affidavit alleged.
Rich’s girlfriend that the trailer was sold through a third party “to an ex-cop,” in Creek County, the affidavit alleged.
“I seized the trailer and pulled it back to Payne County where it was stored at our secure facility at the Payne County Fairgrounds. I have been unable to locate the tools that were inside the trailer when it was stolen. The value of the trailer is $3,232.20 and the value of the tools inside the trailer was $17,946.43 totaling $21,178.63,” the sheriff’s investigator alleged in his affidavit.
