(Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict who gave a false first name to Cushing Police Officer Justin Sappington was sentenced Monday to five years in prison for failure to register as a sex offender, a felony to which he pleaded guilty. Shan D. Arntanguian Prather, 28, who has an extensive criminal record including sexual battery and burglary in Stillwater, got out of prison in 2008, state Department of Corrections records show. As part of a plea bargain Monday, Prather received two concurrent one-year jail terms for obstructing an officer in his latest case and also for being a sex offender living within 2,000 feet of Cushing Middle School and Harrison Elementary School in 2006. In the case filed last month, Prather was walking westbound in the 900 block of E. Walnut Street about 2:10 p.m. Oct. 15 when he was spotted by Cushing Police Detective Adam Harp — who was off duty, court records show. “I had previous knowledge that Prather is a sex offender and is not in compliance with the state of Oklahoma as registering as a sex offender,” according to an affidavit by the detective, who followed Prather in his private vehicle. While the off-duty detective was waiting for Officer Sappington to arrive, Prather sat down at the intersection of Maple Street and Steele Avenue — directly across the street from Cushing Middle School, the affidavit said. As the detective was watching, Prather began jogging south on Steele Avenue toward an alleyway near apartments where Officer Sappington attempted to speak with Prather, who began walking upstairs to an apartment, the affidavit said. Prather identified himself to Officer Sappington as Darnquim Carnell, but gave his correct date of birth, which the detective verified was Prather’s, the affidavit said. Prather said that he was going to his father’s upstairs apartment, the affidavit said. Five Cushing police officers — including Chief Terry Brannon and Deputy Chief Tully Folden — went to the apartment and contacted the owner, who was told that Prather needed to come out, the affidavit said. “Prather came outside and asked why I was harassing him,” the detective wrote in his affidavit. “I asked Prather where he is living and he said that he is homeless. “I told Prather that he was not in compliance as a sex offender and he told me that he did not have to register because he is not a sex offender,” the detective wrote in his affidavit. “Prather stated several times that he was not a sex offender and that the charges against him were not true,” the affidavit said. Prather was convicted in Payne County in 2002 of sexual battery, for which he was initially given probation that was revoked to two years’ incarceration in 2004, court records show. Prather has also been known by the names of D.A. Prather, Darntanguin Prather and Princ Prather, according to DOC records. In Payne County, he was convicted of carrying a weapon where alcohol is served in 2001; second-degree burglary and sexual battery in Stillwater in 2002, for which he was initially given probation that was later revoked to incarceration; felony domestic abuse in Cushing in 2003; and burglarizing a vehicle and concealing stolen property in Stillwater in 2007, court records show.
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