(Stillwater, Okla.) — A convicted drug offender from Van Buren, Arkansas, has been given an eight-year prison term by Payne County District Judge Phillip Corley for possessing methamphetamine and marijuana in rural Yale.
Gary Wayne Baxter, 37, admitted in court on Nov. 14 that he was in possession of the drugs when he attempted to elude Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Nick Myers on McElroy Street near Highway 18 while he was driving a pickup under suspension last March.
The Payne County judge ordered that Baxter’s prison sentence be served concurrently with two seven-year concurrent prison terms Baxter has been serving for the past two months for possessing methamphetamine in 2014 and firearms in 2005, both in Leflore County.
According to the state Department of Corrections, Baxter previously served about three and one-half years of a five-year prison term from Leflore County for marijuana possession in 2001.
Baxter also was convicted in Cherokee County for possessing methamphetamine in 2009, for which he was placed on probation for seven years in 2011, court records show.
In his Payne County case, Baxter was also ordered by the judge to pay $1,950 in fines and assessments, as part of a plea bargain with the prosecution.
Baxter had been arrested in rural Yale at 3:17 a.m. on March 8 just west of Battle Ridge Road on Airport Road by the Payne County deputy, who had seen Baxter’s pickup truck turn from Highway 18 onto McElroy Road and then stop in the roadway, according to his affidavit.
“The vehicle was making a loud whining noise, leading me to believe the vehicle was having mechanical problems,” the deputy wrote in his affidavit.
The pickup turned north on Council Valley Road and picked up speed, the affidavit said.
“After passing the first hill, the vehicle’s lights turned off and I lost sight of the vehicle,” that later turned around in a driveway with the headlights turned back on, the affidavit said.
At McElroy and Council Valley Road, the truck ran a stop sign, the affidavit said.
“The vehicle then turned north on Battle Ridge Road, slinging rocks and accelerating,” at 60 to 70 miles per hour on the gravel road until it turned west on Airport Road, the affidavit said.
“Just after turning west on Airport Road, the vehicle attempted to turn north on a private drive, but was met with a pipe gate that was secured shut,” the affidavit said.
Baxter got out of the truck and apologized repeatedly for running – saying that his license was suspended, the affidavit said.
“Deputy Christopher McKosato and Pawnee County Deputy Steve Seely had arrived on scene,” which was about 15 feet north of Airport Road, the county line, the affidavit said.
During an inventory of Baxter’s pickup, Deputy Myers found attached to the vehicle’s keys a black pill canister that contained methamphetamine, the affidavit said.
In the vehicle’s center console, the deputy found a green pill bottle with trace amounts of marijuana, the affidavit said.
At 3:54 a.m., Deputy Christopher Nixon found a green pill bottle just north of McElroy Road on Council Valley in the roadway – that contained a small plastic bag with marijuana, the affidavit said.
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