Police: 3 Suspects Caught Red-Handed With Stolen Goods from Tulsa Dealership

Tulsa Police arrested three men who they say worked together to break into a dealership, and steal a truck, but then got caught days later while stripping it for parts.

Police say when they arrested Robert Merrill and Keith Brown, they had the stolen truck's seat and battery with them. Police later learned Michael Bledsoe was also involved.

Tulsa Police it all started Sunday night when they say thieves broke into Riverside Ford Sunday night and stole TVs, tablets, and a 2019 Ford F-150, and it was all caught on video. Then someone called 911 a couple of days later in a different part of town after seeing some guys taking parts out of a truck.

"When officers responded to the area, they were able to stop another vehicle that was leaving from the truck, made contact with two subjects, that actually had items inside their truck that was actually from this stolen truck,” said Lieutenant Chase Calhoun with Tulsa Police Auto Theft.

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Police say they caught Keith Brown and Robert Merrill red-handed because they had the stolen Ford's tuck seat and battery in their vehicle. Investigators searched a house nearby and found more evidence and arrested Michael Bledsoe.

"Pretty much any vehicle can be stripped. Every single vehicle has components within it that are worth money. There's always a market for car parts. We always want to caution citizens when they are buying things online, like Facebook market, things like that,” said Calhoun.

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Calhoun says thousands of vehicles are stolen every year in Tulsa. He says there are different kinds of car thieves, like those who steal cars to commit violent crimes, but he says these guys are stealing cars, stripping the parts, and selling them for profit.

"It's always good when you can return people's property back to them. That's our goal is to return property and make arrests for the suspects responsible for these crimes and seek justice, but we really want to thank the citizens because had this citizen not notified us, we probably wouldn’t have found the suspects so quickly, or at all,” said Calhoun.

According to court records, all three suspects have been in and out of prison over the last 20 years for drugs, burglary, stealing cars, and having stolen property.