Burl Jason Nichols
(DOC file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict has been jailed on $25,000 bail pending his arraignment Tuesday on a charge of breaking into a building on N. Oak Grove Road in rural Drumright — nine days after he was placed on probation for burglarizing a storage trailer at Coops Fast Lube & Tire in Cushing.
Due to his criminal record, Burl Jason Nichols, 51, of Cushing, could be given a prison term of four years to life if convicted of second-degree burglary after two or more prior felonies.
In his latest case, Nichols was arrested at 3:30 am on April 21, according to an affidavit by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Donato Lomboy, who along with Deputy Diego Gutierrez, was on patrol at 3:10 am in the 3800 of N. Oak Grove Road.
“As we approached the driveway to the residence, we observed an individual standing in a gap between the front gate that was partially open. We exited my patrol vehicle and announced, ‘Sheriff’s Office, come out,’ several times and the individual walked to the south of the opening in the gate out of our view.
“Due to not being able to see over or around the tall sheet metal fence around the property, I contacted K9 Officer David Smith with Cushing Police Department for assistance clearing the property and locating the suspect that took off.
“When Officer Smith arrived on scene, he announced, ‘Police Department, Sheriff’s Office with a K9, make yourself known, my dog will find you and bite you. Police Department, Sheriff’s Office with a K9, final warning.’ After no response, we entered the property through the gap and began tracking the suspect. We located the suspect, later identified as Burl Jason Nichols just south of the gate.
“At that time, we placed him in handcuffs. I asked Nichols who he was there with, and he stated that he was there by himself, and that he had ridden his bike there. He stated, ‘I heard these people left and free. That’s what the word was.’ We did not locate any other suspects at that time,” Deputy Lomboy alleged in his affidavit.
“We located a Big Tex brand single axle flatbed trailer just behind the gate that was loaded with property that appeared to have come from the residence. We also located a yellow in color sleeping bag, blue and gray in color air mattress with various sheets, a bucket with three Wi-Fi security cameras, and two backpacks, one olive and tan in color, and the other red and blue in color, containing various burglary tools all sitting in a pile together outside of the gate next to the roadway,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
“I asked Nichols what he was doing there, and he stated, ‘I heard there was a lot of free bedding and clothes, and you see that’s what I grabbed, mainly the bedding. Nichols stated that he ‘didn’t break nothing or cut nothing or nothing. I mean I did go into the property, yes, I did. I have been here about 15 minutes. I went to that trailer, and I brought back two bags one trip,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
Asked about the backpacks piled up with bags he said he brought out, Nichols claimed they were already there, the affidavit alleged. The deputies were unable to locate any bike in the area, the affidavit alleged.
“Officer David Smith showed me video footage of Nichols that was recorded on his body camera from a theft from Atwoods in Cushing at an earlier day and time,” that appeared to be the same backpack with a grinder in it that was in the pile Nichols admitted taking from the property, the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
The property owner, who was in Broken Arrow at the time, said “he had video footage of two people out there earlier taking his cameras down and loading stuff onto the trailer. (He) advised that he then called us and at that time we were unable to locate anyone on the property. When (he) arrived, I had him look at the items and he stated that all of the items that were in the pile were inside of the house when he was last there a few days ago,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
The property owner “showed me video footage from when he called in earlier, and you could see in the video that the trailer was empty and two individuals loading up the trailer. You could also see the individuals taking down and disabling the cameras. One of the individuals in the video appeared to be wearing the same style of pants that Nichols was wearing when we located him, and appeared to have his pants sagging just as Nichols did when we located him. The individual in the video with the sagging pants also sounded like Nichols when he spoke on the security camera footage,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
The property owner said, “he did not own the trailer that the items were loaded on, and it must have been brought in by the suspects…(he) stated that he would email all of the videos that he had from the cameras so that I could add them to my report,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
Only nine days earlier on April 12, 2024, Nichols had pleaded guilty to the Coops Fast Lube & Tire burglary on June 26, 2023, for which he was placed on two years’ probation with an order to have a substance abuse evaluation and provide a DNA sample, court records show.
According to the state Department of Corrections, Nichols has a 30-year criminal history including convictions for robbery or attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon in 1992 in Washington County, grand larceny in 2006 in Custer County, and drug possession in 2009 in Garfield County.
