Homeowner's Intuition Help OKC Police Catch Burglar Red-Handed

A story about a lost dog along with one man's intuition helped land a burglary suspect in jail. Oklahoma City police even say officers caught him red-handed.

Jeffery Ervin, 18, sits in the county jail on burglary complaints. A Northwest OKC homeowner says when he rang his doorbell early Tuesday morning, he thought no one was home.

"Wife backed out of the driveway. She closed the garage and left. Then about two minutes later, the doorbell rang, and I'm like, ‘Who's ringing at 7:20 in the morning?'" said homeowner, David McCracken.

When McCracken opened his front door, he says Ervin was standing on his porch in camouflaged pants and a hoodie.  McCracken says the first thing that came to mind was that someone was casing his home.

"So I open the door and he's like, ‘Hey, I'm looking for my black lab.' I'm like, oh really. I said, I hadn't seen it," said McCracken. "He goes, ‘Well, my name is Mike Smith, if you see anything, will you let me know?' I'm like, sure Mike."

But McCracken says he knew that wasn't true and immediately called police.

"About a half hour later, I walked out, and I saw cops, cops, cops, saw them going to this house over here," said McCracken. "I walked up the intersection, there's the Jimmy, and there's him in cuffs."

4/17/2014 Related Story: Man Caught In The Act Burglarizing NW OKC Home

According to the police report, the responding officer saw the same gold Chevrolet that was parked in David's driveway at a home just a few houses down. A short time later, police say they watched Ervin walk out of the back door carrying a large-caliber revolver and several boxes of ammo.

"They said he was armed and everything else," said McCracken.

Police say when Ervin saw them outside the home he went back in and ran out of the front door. But he was caught a few blocks away. 

"People just need to be aware," said McCracken.

Jeffery Ervin is being held on several complaints including possession of a firearm.