FBI searching for man who used debit card

Wednesday, December 29th 1999, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

BIXBY, Okla. (AP) -- The FBI is looking for a Chouteau man who is suspected of using a debit card belonging to a missing Bixby woman. An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for Steven Ray Thacker, 29,for unlawful possession and use of a stolen debit card, said Richard A. Marquise, special agent in charge of the FBI in Oklahoma.

The warrant was issued in Mayes County District Court. The FBI said the credit and debit cards belonging to Laci Dawn Hill, 25, and her husband, Ronnie, were used Dec. 23, 24 and 26 in Pryor and Claremore. The purchases appeared to be gifts and exceeded $100, officials said. Mrs. Hill has been missing from her home in Bixby since Thursday. She called a friend to say someone was coming to look at a family pool table that was for sale. Her purse was missing from the residence, but her car, clothing and cell phone were still there.

The FBI said Thacker was last seen leaving his home in Chouteau about 9 p.m. Monday. He is described as white, 6-foot-3, 210 pounds with blue or hazel eyes and brown hair. Dozens of Mrs. Hill's friends and relatives have been putting up posters of the missing woman and waiting by the phone for some word about her welfare. "We know she's coming home. It's just a matter of time," said Mrs. Hill's brother, Larry Griffin. "We're really not as concerned with an arrest being made as we are with her being returned safely to us."

Donations from friends have allowed the family to raise a reward for her safe return from $10,000 to $20,000, Griffin said. A woman who was seen with Thacker on a surveillance tape at a Pryor Wal-Mart called police to identify Thacker, officials said. FBI Agent Pete Rickel said the woman also is a suspect, although she has not been charged. The FBI is proceeding with the case as if it were an abduction, although there still is no evidence of foul play with regard to Mrs. Hill's disappearance, he said.