By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man was charged today with stealing a neighbor’s 2006 Ford Explorer at about 1 am Saturday that was recovered minutes later by the Payne County Sheriff’s Office.
The defendant, Jake Giovanni Special, 28, was scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon from the Payne County Jail where he was being held on $50,000 bail, court records show.
The defendant’s neighbor said “she was awake and heard a noise; when she looked outside, she saw her vehicle pulling out of her driveway and traveling south at a high rate of speed,” Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Dalton Ross wrote in an affidavit.
The SUV owner said she had left the keys in the driver’s side door and had no idea who might have taken her vehicle valued at $5,000, the affidavit said.
The deputy was talking to the SUV owner when he was advised by a dispatcher that the stolen vehicle was located trespassing in the 4600 block of W. 44th Street, the affidavit alleged.
“Upon my arrival, Deputy Chris McKosato had a male identified as Jake Special in custody. I located the vehicle and confirmed it was the vehicle that was reported stolen,” Deputy Ross wrote in his affidavit.
“Special informed me that he bought the car for $500 off Facebook. He then changed his story and informed me he lied about that. He told me he was the only person in the vehicle and that the car belonged to his neighbor. He said he had permission to use the vehicle so he took it,” Deputy Ross alleged in his affidavit.
However, when the SUV owner arrived, “she confirmed the vehicle was hers and the tag displayed came back to her,” the affidavit said.
“I asked her again if she gave anybody permission to use her vehicle. She informed me again she did not. She told me she wished to press charges on Special for the theft of the vehicle,” Deputy Ross wrote in his affidavit.
A landowner had reported that someone was trespassing in a dark-colored SUV on his property, Deputy McKosato wrote in an affidavit.
“Deputy Secrest called over the radio this was in fact our stolen vehicle Deputy Ross was still taking the report on,” Deputy McKosato alleged in his affidavit.
When the defendant was asked his name, “Special seemed unsure of his name and could not tell me his date of birth,” Deputy McKosato wrote in his affidavit.
“Special seemed to have thick slurred speech when he was trying to answer my questions and confused on how to spell the name given,” Deputy McKosato wrote in his affidavit.
“The (SUV) owner arrived and checked the vehicle to ensure there were no damages and everything in the vehicle was hers,” the affidavit said.
“While en route to the jail, Special was in the back seat speaking incoherently and I asked him to speak up. Special asked about his charges and I explained them to him again, and he said, ‘Ok, that’s fine,"” Deputy McKosato alleged in his affidavit.
***
