TAHLEQUAH —
Prosecutors in Cherokee County have charged an Oklahoma City man with grand larceny, second-degree burglary, and larceny of an automobile.
Jason Paul Hayes, 30, also has previous convictions of knowingly concealing stolen property and a former conviction for possessing a stolen vehicle.
He was given a suspended three-year sentence on one former conviction, but was handed five years in prison for each of two other prior convictions.
According to an affidavit produced by James Harper, of the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, Tommie Coleman reported the theft of seven firearms, an Arvest Bank checkbook, gold necklaces, men’s rings, pearl necklaces, money and other jewelry taken from a safe that was stored in a home.
Coleman had been staying elsewhere while her husband was hospitalized, she told Harper.
She was contacted May 21 by Arvest Bank officials, who told her Hayes and an unknown woman were using her checks in the Oklahoma City area.
Coleman said she then went to her home to check the safe, and discovered someone had stolen a key and combination to the safe. When she eventually opened the safe, she discovered the items – including her checkbook – were gone.
Investigators, after speaking with Coleman, talked to Coleman’s granddaughter, who said she’d arrived at the home May 15 and found her ex-boyfriend, Hayes, standing in the driveway. The granddaughter eventually gave Hayes a ride into Tahlequah to stay at a motel, but told Harper that Hayes refused to get out of the vehicle and wanted her to take him to Oklahoma City.
The granddaughter told police she refused, and decided to drive back to the house.
She eventually called the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office when Hayes refused to leave, and said that while she was on the phone with dispatchers, Hayes got into her car and drove away.
That night, Coleman’s home alarm system went off. Family members drove to the house, but didn’t see anything and decided to leave, according to the affidavit. The family did not notice the items were missing until May 21, when the bank contacted Coleman about Hayes using the checks.
Court records show an arrest warrant has been issued for Hayes.
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