By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 48-year-old Cushing man, who told investigators he set fire to two trucks in the 1400 block of E. Maple Street in Cushing because he was mad at his brother, has been ordered into the Payne County Drug Court program, with his sentencing postponed until Jan. 20, 2026, court records show.
Kenny Jones, who has also been known as Kenneth Wayne Jones Jr., pleaded guilty last week to two counts of third-degree arson on July 20, 2024, and drunk driving along with transporting an open container of an alcoholic beverage on Jan. 13, 2024, on which he has also been scheduled for sentencing on Jan. 20, 2026, court records show.
Cushing Deputy Fire Chief Daniel Myers, who is a commissioned police officer and a fire investigator, had arrested Jones on July 20, 2024, at 9:47 pm about 40 minutes after being called to a vehicle fire, according to his affidavit.
“The driver’s seat area of both vehicles had been burned, and there was a strong odor of an ignitable liquid, that in my experience as a fire investigator, smelled like gasoline. I spoke with several witnesses who witnessed Kenny Jones set the fires and saw him carrying a gas can. I was also provided home security video from a neighbor across the street showing Kenny carrying a gas can through his yard,” the fire investigator wrote in his affidavit.
After the fire investigator was given consent to search the defendant’s residence in the same block, “The black hoodie he was wearing when he started the fires was found on the couch in the living room. I also located the gas can that contained the accelerant that was used to start the fires in a detached garage,” he wrote in his affidavit.
The next day, “Payne County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Brandon Myers and I interviewed Kenny at the Cushing Police Department. Kenny admitted to setting the fires in both trucks. He told us that he opened the doors and splashed gasoline in them and set them on fire using a candle lighter. He told us that he set the fires because he was mad at his brother,” the fire investigator wrote in his affidavit.
About six months earlier, Jones had been arrested at 11:55 pm on Jan. 13, 2024, by Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Joseph G. Jones for drunk driving at Highway 33 and Old Highway 33, along with transporting an open container of an alcohol, court records show.
At 10:12 pm that night, Cushing police had been dispatched to a reckless driver on Highway 33 heading east into town, but while the sheriff’s deputy was traveling to the area, he was notified that the vehicle had been in an accident at Highway 33 and Old Highway 33 in rural Payne County, his affidavit said.
“Upon my arrival, I observed a vehicle off the roadway in the northside ditch,” that was driven by Jones, who had a female passenger, the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
“I observed a silver tumbler cup on the driver’s floorboard and liquid on the floorboard,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
Jones, who said he did not need an ambulance, “reported he was driving eastbound on Highway 33 from Perkins,” when just west of Old Highway 33, he said a deer ran into the road, so he swerved to miss it and lost control, the deputy wrote in his affidavit. Jones said, “he left Highway 33 on the north side and hit a tree,” the affidavit said.
“I asked Kenneth (Jones) if he had anything to drink today, and he advised he had ‘5,6,7, beers,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
“I conducted an inventory of the vehicle before being impounded, and behind the driver’s seat, I located an open 1.75-liter bottle of vodka that was almost empty. I took pictures of the bottle and dumped the bottle out,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
While Jones was being transported to the Payne County Jail, “Cushing officers agreed to take the female passenger home and stand by for the wrecker,” the affidavit said.
