(Stillwater, Okla.) – A Cushing man, who was already accused of four property crimes, was charged today with burglarizing Euchee Valley Cemetery east of Cushing between March 12 and March 19.
James Alan Reid, 35, had been arrested on March 31 on two earlier charges and jailed on $50,000 total bail. Reid has been ordered to appear before a Payne County judge on Tuesday on his new charge along with his two earlier charges.
Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Myers alleged in an affidavit that when he interviewed Reid on April 3, “He admitted to breaking into the Euchee Valley Cemetery Office by entering through an unlocked door and stealing numerous items from inside the office.”
“From March 12 to March 18, Euchee Valley Cemetery management was out of town. Upon returning to their office, they noticed it had been burglarized and the following things were missing: a gold in color bronze vase, bronze picture frame, bronze photo locket and four bronze mounting rings for the vases.
“Through the investigation, it was discovered that James Reid had sold numerous brass vases that were taken from the cemetery to Mullins Salvage Yard for scrap,” the affidavit alleged.
“He told me that he threw the rings that he had taken from the office away in a trash can,” the deputy alleged in his affidavit.
The cemetery “was the victim of numerous larcenies of gravestone ornaments between November of 2017 and the end of March 2018,” the affidavit said.
Reid was charged with stealing nine vases from Euchee Valley Cemetery between March 19 and March 22, court records show.
Reid was also charged with burglarizing a building located in the 6100 block of N. Little in rural Cushing on March 14, court records show.
Reid was also charged with passing a $100 forged check in Cushing on Jan. 17, court records show.
Reid was also charged with cutting a padlock from a fence gate and entering an area in the 1000 block of E. Main Street in Cushing on July 14, 2017, court records show.
If convicted of all of his current charges, Reid could be sentenced to as much as 34 years in prison and fined $41,000, court records show.
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