Police Arrest Tulsa Homeland Robbery Suspect

Tulsa Police believe a convict arrested near Oklahoma City is an armed robber who was shot during a holdup in Tulsa. <br/><br/>News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says the arrest of Michael Curley came just

Friday, May 12th 2006, 10:12 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa Police believe a convict arrested near Oklahoma City is an armed robber who was shot during a holdup in Tulsa.

News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says the arrest of Michael Curley came just 11 years into what was supposed to be a 20-year prison term. The conviction was for his role in a theft ring connected to a coin and jewelry store.

According to Oklahoma City Police, the owners directed a violent gang to victims with lots of cash - some of them were raped, some scalded, others threatened with their lives so he could take their money and jewelry.

Curley was convicted of rape, kidnapping, maiming, and shooting with intent to kill and burglary - in all dozens of charges. At trial he pleaded guilty - and was convicted, sentenced to 20 years in prison - and 20 years probation. But since it was before tougher sentencing laws took effect - he didn't serve even half the sentence.

Curley was incarcerated in October 1995, served 8 years and was released in December 2003. He's been on unsupervised probation since.

The robbery at the Homeland store in Tulsa took a turn when an armed customer confronted the armed robbers. They demanded money from the store manager. The customer, a 75-year-old retired man, pulled out a pistol and fired. From the surveillance tape at the store, police knew the robber was shot, and they believed he was seriously hurt.

They now believe the suspect, Michael Curley, sought medical treatment out of state, before returning to the Oklahoma City area where he was arrested. The other suspect, Mark Brown, was arrested last month.

Tulsa Police say they have DNA of the suspect who was shot - and will compare it to Curley to see if it matches.