Stillwater NewsPress

Breaking News

Local News

December 14, 2010

Walmart thefts lead police to meth labs

By Anita Pere Stillwater NewsPress

STILLWATER, Okla. — Law enforcement agents got a bargain when they investigated thefts from Stillwater discount stores.

The search for suspects and stolen merchandise led Stillwater police and Payne County sheriff's deputies to two meth labs.

Stillwater police went to Walmart at 111 N. Perkins Road at about 12:30 a.m. Thursday after receiving a call about a theft in progress, police said today. They arrested Stillwater residents Johnny Lee Schoolcraft, 41, Clarence Michael Schoolcraft, 32, and Mark Thomas Dunham, 24. The three men are suspected of attempting to steal $475 worth of merchandise, police said.

In the week leading up to Thursday’s thefts, Stillwater police took at least five reports of larcenies from both Walmart stores in Stillwater. More than $2,000 in merchandise was reported stolen from the stores.

After the arrests, the Stillwater police Criminal Investigations Unit searched homes at 2221 E. Lydia Lane and 826 S. Leigh St. for electronics and other stolen items. They found stolen property and multiple clandestine meth labs at both locations, according to police. Tammy Lynn Beavers, 36, was arrested at the home on Lydia Lane and Robert Tinkle, 52, was arrested at the Leigh address.

Tinkle and Beavers were charged with endeavoring to manufacture meth and knowingly concealing stolen property Monday in Payne County District Court. They are being held in the Payne County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bond each.

Johnny Schoolcraft, Clarence Schoolcraft and Dunham had not been charged as of this morning.

Both the Schoolcrafts are being held in the jail in lieu of $25,000 bond each, a jailer said. Both are being held on complaints of larceny, possession of controlled and dangerous substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Dunham posted $2,500 bond and left the jail Friday.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Local News
Stilly Studio
  • Savory_Stilly_Studio_05_01_13.jpg Savory crosses off goals with fifth album

    “I love the high energy stuff,” he said. “Even though it’s country, being able to rock it up, distorted guitars and just seeing the crowd, feeding off of that.”

    May 2, 2013 1 Photo

NewsPress Specials
AP Video
Probe Begins After Conn. Commuter Trains Crash NTSB Begins Investigation Into Conn. Train Crash Lotto Fever Sweeps the Country Conn. Commuter Trains Collide; 60 Go to Hospital Coffee Run Leads to Hatchet Hitchhiker Arrest Fmr. IRS Head Insists No Politics in Targeting CDC: Fecal Bacteria Common in Swimming Pools $1 Million in Jewels Stolen at Cannes Film Fest NM Mom Chases Down Child Abductor Raw: Crash Sends Car Into Fla. Pool Raw: Obama Sits Down With Elementary Kids Raw: Bear Falls From Tampa Tree Ousted IRS Chief: Errors Not Caused by Politics Terror Suspect Due in Court in Idaho Friday Raw: Driver Ejected From Truck, Over Bridge Could Tobacco Be the Next Biofuel? Wash. State Releases Draft Rules for Legal Pot Dying Man's Blinks Lead to Murder Conviction Officials: Texas Tornado Likely Had 200 Mph Wind Brothers Arrested in NOLA Parade Shooting
Stocks