Man Arrested, Accused Of Robbing Sand Springs Gas Station Clerk

A Sand Springs gas station clerk says a man with a knife robbed him, then took off with cash and cigarettes.

It happened Monday morning at the Sav A Trip near Highway 412 west of town.

Surveillance video helped Sand Springs Police arrest James Matlock within 12 hours. Records show Matlock just got out of prison seven months ago after serving 12 years for armed robbery.

The clerk, Monjur Bhuiyan, says he noticed James Matlock hovering around inside the store acting suspicious. He says as soon as all the other customers left the store, Matlock pulled out a box knife and said, “Get in the back, I will stab you!"

Police say surveillance video inside the gas station shows Matlock pulled out a box knife, hopped the counter, and robbed Bhuiyan. Bhuiyan says it happened so fast he didn't have time to hit his emergency button.

"He's like hey hey, like this, and I went back, and he jumped over the table and stayed here and took all of the money,” said Bhuiyan.

Bhuiyan says the store was pretty busy Monday morning, but he noticed a man who came inside the store, left and came back.

"He waited over there for a long time, but I did not realize he was trying to rob this store,” said Bhuiyan.

Bhuiyan says Matlock waited for everyone to leave, then robbed him.

Police say surveillance video showed Matlock leaving in a gray truck, so police put the tag number into the city's Flock camera system. It showed the truck on camera near the store 15 minutes before the robbery. Police then told officers to look for that truck.

"Off-duty officer who is not even working, is paying attention to his emails, just happens to be driving down the road, sees the car that fits the description and calls on-duty officers, and we were able to get him and make an arrest,” said Deputy Chief Todd Enzbrenner with Sand Springs Police.

Police say they found the stolen cigarettes, cash, and the straw hat Matlock was wearing inside the truck.

"Without Flock, we wouldn't have made an arrest that quick. And without our officer’s diligence and paying attention to what's going on, we wouldn't have got an arrest,” said Enzbrenner.

Records show Matlock was sentenced to 15 years in prison for armed robbery in 2011 but got out last November. Officers say when they arrested him, Matlock offered to give the money back because he said he didn't want to go back to prison.