
Tyler Zachery Zane Flint
(DOC file photo)
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — An ex-convict, who previously lived in Cushing, has been ordered to appear in court on March 6, 2024, for a preliminary hearing on a felony charge of stealing a Dodge Grand Caravan, which was recovered by an Oklahoma State University police officer.
Tyler Zachery Zane Flint, 24, of Stillwater, who remains jailed on $7,000 bail, was also charged with misdemeanor counts of possessing marijuana and stolen Dewalt tools along with batteries.
Stillwater Police Officer Ryan Simpson wrote in an affidavit that a woman said, “her son had heard their vehicle leave the driveway of the residence and came to notify her,” on Oct. 23.
She said, “they believe one of the tires is flat on the vehicle, as there is now a large scratch mark on the driveway that was not there before. (She) stated that the keys were inside the vehicle, and that the vehicle had been left unlocked,” the affidavit said.
When OSU PD located the vehicle, “the driver’s side running board was damaged and partially hanging off and laying on the ground. I observed that the rear driver’s side tire was flat, and the tread was coming off of it,” the Stillwater officer wrote in his affidavit.
OSU Police Officer Aaron Spears was driving in the area of 1400 N. Western when he heard the call of a stolen vehicle and saw one turn in the Greenhouse area, the affidavit said. “Officer Spears stated that he contacted Tyler as Tyler was walking away from the vehicle. Officer Spears stated that it is unusual for anyone to be in that area during that time period (3 am), and that Tyler should not be in that area and has no affiliation with OSU,” the affidavit alleged.
Marijuana was found inside one of the defendant’s bags, the affidavit alleged. Two Dewalt tools and two Dewalt batteries were found in the defendant’s possession that had been stolen from another person on Oct. 3, the affidavit alleged.
In addition to his felony vehicle theft charge, Flint has been ordered to appear in court on March 6 on an earlier misdemeanor charge of possessing methamphetamine and glass smoking pipes on June 5 in Stillwater, court records show.
Four months earlier, Flint had been released from prison on charges of possessing a stolen vehicle in Lincoln County and being a felon with a gun in 2021 when he lived in Cushing for which he was given a three-year prison term but only served one year before his release last February to seven years of probation, state Department of Corrections records show.
According to DOC records, Flint had previously been convicted of:
* attempted larceny from a house and two counts of third-degree burglary in Stillwater in 2019 for which he was given a five-year prison term followed by five years of probation, two years of which were revoked in 2022, but he only served about eight months;
* second-degree burglary of an auto in Cushing in 2017, for which he was sent to the Regimented Inmate Discipline (RID) prison boot camp program, followed by six months in jail and two and one-half year of probation, six months of which was revoked in 2018.
Flint had also been charged last July with first-degree burglary of a woman’s house in Stillwater, a felony case that was dismissed by the prosecution two months later, court records show.