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TPD Arrests 5 For 2-Week String Of Car Thefts In South Tulsa Area

Facebook / Tulsa Police Department

Tulsa Police have arrested five people — three of them under 18 — in connection with the theft of several luxury cars from homes in south Tulsa, Jenks and Bixby.

Lt. Chase Calhoun said they’re part of a group that’s stolen as many as 25 cars over the past two weeks.

"Based on the interview with some of these suspects, information was provided that they are actually targeting these vehicles in these certain areas because there are a lot of vehicles being left unlocked with the keys inside," Calhoun said.

Owners left guns in some of the stolen cars. The group has also been tied to high-end car thefts in Oklahoma City.

Calhoun said TPD got a break in the case Wednesday when someone at Admiral Place and 73rd East Avenue flagged down officers to say someone in a car with five people in it threatened to shoot him. Calhoun said the driver took off when officers tried to stop the car and an ensuing pursuit was called off because of high speeds.

But the driver later crashed near 51st and Memorial, and Calhoun said his biggest concern is officers found a 10-year-old among the occupants.

"Not only were they fleeing in excess of 100 mph or so on city streets, but they had a firearm and they were threatening a citizen who was minding his own business. With a child in the car, they were pointing a gun out the window, antagonizing, starting problems," Calhoun said.

The two adults TPD arrested, 18-year-old Jacob Villavicencio and 20-year-old Emillio Carranza, are in the Tulsa County Jail.

Matt Trotter joined KWGS as a reporter in 2013. Before coming to Public Radio Tulsa, he was the investigative producer at KJRH. His freelance work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and on MSNBC and CNN.
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