Thieves Take $80K-Worth Of Equipment In Okmulgee County

A group of thieves is going county to county, stealing trailers, vehicles and other expensive equipment and the sheriff's office is asking for help finding the crooks.

There's been an increase in the number of trailers, trucks and other equipment stolen, all across Okmulgee County. One of the hardest hit is the Rural Water District number 2 in Preston.

Deanna Nye said most of the time it's pretty quiet; people typically come by to pay their water bills, but one thief wanted much more than that.

"One of our company trucks was sitting right here where the black truck was with the trailer and the back track-hoe was sitting on top of it and Friday it was here, by Saturday it was gone," Nye said.

A yellow excavator was taken, along with a goose neck trailer and a F250 Ford Truck with the ORWD sign on the side. All of it valued at over $80,000 dollars.

"It's just been really difficult to try and get out and take care of people's lines that have broken or leaks that are all over the place," said Nye.

Just a few miles up the road in Beggs, police found a stolen travel trailer at the Peaceful Acres RV Park.

Employee Steven Martin came face-to-face with the suspect.

"He said, ‘I'm going to leave this here and I'll get you money.' I said, ‘No the money is up front,' so he said ‘I've got to run to Tulsa and get it.' I said okay and didn't see him for five days," Martin said.

A picture given to us by Kiefer Police shows the suspect's vehicle, a white double cab truck.

Police said the trailer, which ended up at Peaceful acres, was stolen from a storage yard in Kiefer.

"People spend their hard money on something and put it in storage and go get it and it's gone. That's very sad when you have thievery like that," Martin said.

He said there were two men, a woman and a baby traveling together, they were all able to get away and police seized the trailer, but are still looking for the crooks.

If you have seen any of the equipment or know who is responsible, you are asked to call the Okmulgee County Sheriff's Office.