Jerad Jason Christopher Stephens (PCSD file photo)
By Patti Weaver
STILLWATER — An Oilton man has been jailed on $10,000 bail on a Payne County felony charge alleging he stole over $1,000 worth of items including groceries, hygiene products and gorilla tape from Walmart in Cushing.
Jerad Jason Christopher Stephens, 30, who had been released from prison in August of 2023, has been scheduled to be evaluated for the Payne County Drug Court program before an April 7 court appearance.
Stephens was arrested at 10:56 pm on Feb. 22, about 11 minutes after Cushing Police Officer David Smith, who was on patrol in the area, saw a red Dodge Dakota pickup with its tailgate down appear to leave Walmart in a hurry, according to his affidavit.
The Cushing officer drove toward the store’s entrance where he was waved down by employees, one of whom said that the red pickup “that had just left had taken a cart full of items without paying for any of those items,” the affidavit alleged.
After a chase in which the pickup driver bailed out of the truck and ran, “a search for the driver was conducted and was unsuccessful in locating him,” the affidavit alleged.
Stephens, who was the passenger, said he did not know why the driver ran, but he knew the driver used methamphetamine, the affidavit alleged.
“Jerad (Stephens) advised he was sorry and admitted to taking items from Walmart.
“Jerad advised his significant other had gotten mad at him for not having any food at the house, so he advised he would just go to Walmart and get food and stuff.
“Jerad advised he had gotten in contact with (the driver), and (the driver) went with him and took items with him and then drove.
“Walmart was unable to be contacted at this time due to the store already being closed. I seized all obvious items which still had tags on them.
“All together there were 72 items recovered totaling to $999.12. A gallon of milk and a Digiorno pizza were discarded as the gallon of milk was busted open and the pizza was torn open and was starting to spoil.
“Officer Heather Snow transported Jerad to the Cushing City Jail for book-in,” where he had a grocery bag containing a substance that tested positive as marijuana, Officer Smith alleged in the affidavit.
During a follow-up the next night at Walmart, Officer Smith retrieved an itemized receipt from an employee “from the items they had recovered that were left in the parking lot, which is past the last point of sale. The receipt showed a total of 52 items totaling $644.78.
“All together, 124 items of merchandise were taken past the last point of sale and recovered totaling $1,643.90,” the affidavit alleged.
According to court records and the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, Stephens had previously been convicted of third-degree burglary in Payne County in 2021, for which he was given a five-year prison term in 2022 but only served about 18 months. Stephens had also been convicted of second-degree burglary in Creek County in 2015 for which he was originally given probation that was revoked in 2016 to three years in prison of which he served about 16 months.
