(Stillwater, Okla.) — An arrest warrant was issued Friday for a second man accused in the Nov. 27 burglary of the Cushing Police Department’s off-site evidence storage room at the city-owned Fountaine Bleau apartment complex in Cushing, which has no tenants.
A Payne County jail spokesman told KUSH this morning that Thomas Merrill Penn, 45, was not yet in custody. According to court records, Penn has previously resided in Lincoln County.
Penn was charged Friday as a co-defendant with former Cushing resident Dalton Dash Brown, 26, of Stroud, who was released from the Payne County Jail on Dec. 4 on $7,500 bond.
When Brown appeared in court without an attorney last week, Special District Judge Katherine Thomas warned him that he must have retained counsel with him in court on Jan. 4 or his bail will be revoked.
According to an affidavit filed Friday by Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation Agent Michael Dean, when Penn was interviewed, Penn allegedly admitted “he had actually gone to the apartments with Brown to do the copper burglaries.”
“They noticed the extra security on apartment 106, so Penn kicked open the door on apartment 105 and they both took down the drywall to enter into apartment 106,” the affidavit alleged.
“Once the drywall was down, Brown went through to the other side and started handing items over to Penn. Penn realized it was an evidence room and didn’t want any part of the burglary and began to tell Brown they needed to leave,” the affidavit alleged.
“A few minutes later, the alarm sounded on the evidence room so they left through the south door of apartment 105 and went to Penn’s truck,” the affidavit alleged.
“Penn had parked in the neighboring apartment complex to the south. They drove to a secluded location in the country and took the guns from the boxes and buried the boxes,” the affidavit alleged.
“Penn then drove Brown to Cherry Street (in Cushing) and dropped him off, and Brown took all the property they had stolen,” the affidavit alleged.
“Penn then went home. Penn didn’t receive any money or property for what he had done. Penn stated the reason he had done the burglary was to get extra money,” the affidavit alleged.
“Penn had started using meth and about three months ago, he knew it was a bad thing and stopped using it on his own,” the affidavit alleged.
Penn “had financially got himself into a hole because of the meth and wanted some extra cash to get his head above water,” the affidavit alleged.
Cushing police had been called on Nov. 27 on a report that a burglary had possibly occurred at the city-owned apartment complex from which all tenants had been removed, the affidavit said.
The break-in to the Cushing Police Department off-site evidence room was investigated by the OSBI at the request of Cushing Police Chief Terry Brannon.
Latent prints were located on the wall around the hole between two apartments, placed into a data base, and found to match Brown’s, the OSBI agent’s affidavit alleged.
Brown was arrested by the OSBI agent when Brown arrived for court at the Payne County Courthouse the following day on an earlier burglary charge, court records show.
“Brown admitted he had gone to the Fountaine Bleau apartment complex to try and located copper plumbing. Brown was going to cut the copper pipes and sell them,” the affidavit alleged.
“Brown forced entry into an apartment in the center of the complex. Inside, he cut a copper water line and water began to spray from the pipe, so Brown abandoned the idea of getting copper pipe,” the affidavit alleged.
After going into the police evidence room, Brown grabbed two pistols and one rifle, before leaving the apartment, the affidavit alleged.
Brown sold the two pistols for cash and gave the rifle to a Cushing man to dispose of, the affidavit alleged. That man has not been charged, court records show.
“Brown admitted he took the guns to sell so he could get money to pay off individuals for posting his bond on a previous arrest,” the affidavit alleged.
Just three days earlier, Brown had been released from the Payne County Jail on $2,500 bond on a charge of breaking into the office for Allied Waste in Cushing in April, court records show.
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