Cushing couple admit burglarizing rural property of trailers & tractor

   STILLWATER — A Cushing man, who previously lived in Tryon, and his fiancée have admitted breaking into buildings east of Cushing from which a large amount of property was stolen including trailers, a car hauler, a tractor, tools and a lawn mower between Feb. 14 and March 11, court records show.

   Michael Dale Whitlock, 35, was sentenced last week to two years in prison followed by five years of probation during which he must have a substance abuse evaluation, take any recommended follow-up treatment, undergo random drug tests, show proof of full-time employment, provide a DNA sample and make restitution, court records show.

   Samantha Lynn Reid, 43, was transported from the Payne County Jail to an out-of-town women’s treatment facility last week as a condition of a seven-year probationary sentence, court records show.

   The couple were arrested on March 17 at a camper trailer on North Harmony Road where they had concealed stolen property, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia, Payne County Sheriff’s Investigator Brandon Myers wrote in an affidavit.

   A member of the family that owned the burglarized rural property “discovered that the gate had been tampered with, the hinges were removed, and a different lock had been installed. The suspects broke into the house by entering through a closed but unlockable door. They also broke into the shop building by using a pry bar to defeat the lock, and they broke into an additional shed on the property by completely taking down and exterior wall.

   “From the property and inside the shop building, (the relative) identified numerous items missing including three trailers…From the shop (the relative) found that a large number of tools, HAM radio equipment, an electric bike, a Toro mower, chainsaws, generators, battery chargers, and DJ equipment such as speakers and amplifiers were missing.

   “(The relative) later found multiple posts (on Facebook Marketplace) by Michael Whitlock selling her family’s property, including a Ford tractor, an Ameritron amplifier and a Rockville speaker. The photograph posted for the Ford tractor listing was taken at the victim’s property. She reported evidence that someone had attempted to steal the tractor, as there were chains hooked to it where they attempted to pull it.

   “I also learned that Michael and Samantha had pawned numerous items,” at shops in Stillwater, Tulsa and Del City, according to the sheriff’s investigator, who served a search warrant at the couple’s camper trailer and vehicle on March 17.

   “Michael agreed to speak with me and admitted to committing the thefts,” and that he had a storage unit in rural Cushing where more stolen items were being stored. Samantha admitted to participating in the thefts from the victim’s property but claimed it was not her idea. She stated she did not know who the property belonged to and admitted to receiving money from the sale of the stolen items.

   “Michael agreed to assist in recovering the victim’s property. He pointed out items he had stolen that were still at the camper trailer,” which were subsequently released to the victim, the sheriff’s investigator wrote in his affidavit.

   More stolen property was recovered from the storage unit, along with a receipt book listing a 5000 series tractor and brush hog written out to a Missouri man for $2,800, the affidavit said. The Missouri man “stated he wired $2,800 to Michael Whitlock for the tractor. He said he traveled to the property east of Cushing to pick up the tractor but was unsuccessful,” the affidavit said.

   According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Whitlock had been convicted of concealing stolen property in 2021 in Payne County and was placed on probation in 2023 for 10 years, two years of which were revoked to prison last week to run concurrently with his burglary sentence.

   Reid had been convicted of possessing methamphetamine in Cushing in 2016 and false declaration of ownership in pawn in Perkins in 2018, for which she was given in 2018 two concurrent five-year terms of probation, DOC records show.