Robert Tanner Jacob Simpson
By Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A 24-year-old Yale man on probation for three property crimes in Payne County has been jailed on $75,000 bail pending his arraignment today on a charge accusing him of breaking into a house for sale in Yale.
Due to his criminal record, Robert Tanner Jacob Simpson could be given a prison term of four years to life if convicted of second-degree burglary of the wooden frame house in the 400 block of E. Boston in Yale.
The owner of the house had contacted Yale police on Aug. 26 to report that he had a video of a person breaking into the property, according to an affidavit by Yale Police Officer Keith Hammons.
“I reviewed the video footage and was able to verify the person’s identity,” as Tanner Simpson, the Yale officer alleged in his affidavit that was filed last week with the charge.
On Aug. 14, the property owner had filed a police report “after someone had broken in through the front door and tried to remove a microwave, refrigerator and a stove — leaving them pulled away from the walls. The refrigerator was still connected to a water line and the stove was still connected to a gas line; these appliances are to be sold with the house,” the affidavit said.
The owner said “he installed a trail cam outside of the house, pointing at the front door, a couple of days after the first incident had taken place. He then stated that a friend had mowed the yard and found the front door unlocked,” the affidavit alleged.
The owner said “he went to the property to check the trail cam and found a video of a male person standing in the doorway shining a flashlight in the house. He stated he had locked the doors after the first incident,” the affidavit alleged.
The Yale officer alleged in his affidavit, “While I was reviewing the video, I observed the male subject known locally as Tanner Simpson had an adjustable crescent under his left bicep — possibly to be used to disconnect the water line from the refrigerator and the gas line from the stove.”
Simpson, who was arrested on the burglary charge on Sept. 23, had been placed on seven years’ probation in 2020 for second-degree burglary in 2019, on five years’ probation in 2018 for unauthorized use of a vehicle in 2018, and on five years’ probation in 2018 for larceny of a vehicle in 2017, court records show.
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