(Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict with an extensive criminal record has been given a four-year prison term for attempting to burglarize the pickup truck of a Stillwater man who formerly worked in law enforcement.

Bruce Lynn Collins, 46, of Oklahoma City, who pleaded guilty Friday, could have been given as much as a life prison term due to his prior convictions.

Collins’ plea bargain for four years’ incarceration was approved in court Friday by District Judge Phillip Corley, who also fined him $500.

A Stillwater man reported that he was on his front porch in the 200 block of S. Lowry on July 18, 2014, at 5:44 a.m. “when a truck pulled up in front of the house with its lights off,” Stillwater Police Detective Cody Manuel wrote in an affidavit.

The suspect got out of the truck and approached the victim’s work truck parked next to the front porch, but was unable to get into the cab since it was locked, the affidavit said.

The suspect “then jumped into the back of the truck and was looking around the bed area,” when the other man inside the suspect’s truck noticed that the victim was dialing police and alerted the suspect who ran to his own truck and fled, the affidavit said.

The victim “was able to get a good look at the suspect and provided a tag number for the silver Ford F-150 the suspect was driving,” the affidavit said.

“The owner of the suspect vehicle was determined to be Bruce Collins,” who has multiple burglary convictions and was just released from prison three months earlier, the affidavit said.

According to court records, Collins has also been charged with using a Stillwater woman’s car without her consent in Moore on Dec. 9, 2014, a felony on which he has been scheduled to appear in Cleveland County District Court this week.

Collins has also been charged with assault and battery on a Del City police officer on March 20, a felony on which his court date has not yet been set in Oklahoma County.

Collins, who had been released from prison in April 2014, has also used the middle initials, A., H. and W. – as well as the full names of Terry L. Field, Larry Fields, Terry Fields, Larry Fields, Robert Huff Jr., Richard G. Sanders and Richard Sanders, state Department of Corrections show.

According to DOC records, Collins was convicted in:

* 1987 of possession of stolen property in 1986 in Oklahoma County for which he was given two years of probation;

* 1987 of first-degree burglary in 1986 in Canadian County for which he was given seven years of probation;

* 2005 of drug possession in 2003 in Oklahoma County for which he was given a 10-year sentence on which he served about seven years;

* 2005 of unauthorized use of a vehicle in 2005 in Oklahoma County for which he was given a concurrent 10-year sentence of which he served about seven years;

* 2005 of seven counts of second-degree burglary in 2004 in McClain County for which he was given a concurrent 9-year sentence on which he served about seven years;

* 2008 of escape from a penitentiary in 2008 in Oklahoma County for which he was given a four-year prison term beginning in 2012 of which about two years;

* 2008 of unauthorized use of a vehicle in 2008 in Oklahoma County for which he was given a concurrent four-year prison term beginning in 2012 of which he served about two years.

 

***