SHAWNEE, Okla. —
Two suspects were apprehended Tuesday following a crime spree in Seminole and Pottawatomie counties that included several armed robberies, carjackings, a shooting, police pursuits and a manhunt.
Law enforcement officers swarmed Tecumseh Tuesday, where schools and businesses were locked down following the armed robbery of Ralph’s Pharmacy, 211 S. Broadway.
With the help of tracking dogs during the manhunt, suspect Jason Masieo was nabbed nearly two blocks from the pharmacy shortly after 3 p.m. Suspect Bobby Cardenas, 44, had been arrested around 11 a.m. after a police chase ended in the Norman area on SH 9. A Norman police officer reportedly tossed stop sticks in front of the stolen vehicle Cardenas was driving, a tire blew out and officers made the apprehension.
Both men, reported to be from California, were arrested as the investigation continued into the crime spree that started in Seminole County.
It began in Konawa just after 9:30 a.m. when the two men walked past the Oklahoma Family Medical Center and carjacked a vehicle from Ruben Brewer, said Jessica Brown with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.
During the ordeal, Brewer fought back with the help of a good samaritan, identified as Jimmy Cunningham, who was shot and wounded in the incident, she said. He was taken by helicopter ambulance to OU Medical Center, while Brewer went by ambulance to Valley View Hospital in Ada with head injuries.
The suspects fled in Brewer’s truck and drove south of Maud, where they stopped an OG&E contractor and stole his vehicle, she said. From there, the pair allegedly drove into Maud and robbed the Quick Stop at 218 E. Wanda Jackson. While inside the store, the suspect demanded a customer hand over keys to her vehicle, but it was reportedly low on gasoline. They drove 1.5 miles to Trinity Baptist Church in Maud, where a group of three women, including Donna Morris and Sally Christopher, were standing in front of the church before a meeting.
Morris said a vehicle came speeding into the church parking lot. There were two men — one got into Christopher’s van, while the other came up to them.
“He pointed a gun and said ‘whose car is this,’ and said ‘give me the keys,’” she said.
Morris said she had her eye fixed on the gun. Christopher told the man it was her vehicle, but her keys were inside the church office. She said the armed suspect followed her inside at gunpoint to get the keys. Before he fled, he took her purse, along with Morris’ purse and her Bible that was tucked in a carry bag, she said.
The women remained relatively calm, all things considered.
Christopher said when it happened, “I sort of stood there — I could not believe it was real.”
Morris agreed. “I was thinking ‘is this real...you can’t really even process it,” she said.
“You never dream while standing outside a church that someone would come point a gun in your face,” Christopher said, adding she thinks of how things could have happened differently. “We’re just blessed.”
The suspects’ crime spree didn’t end there.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth said deputies headed to Maud after this incident and encountered the suspects driving the stolen van along SH 9A. The driver allegedly ran Capt. Travis Palmer off the road using the van to try and hit his patrol vehicle head-on, Booth reported. A deputy and an Absentee Shawnee officer reportedly fired shots into the van as the suspects fled.
The suspects then drove to Tecumseh, where they are accused in the armed robbery at Ralph’s Pharmacy. Tecumseh Police Chief Gary Crosby, who said there was an exchange of gunfire between the suspects and the pharmacist, said the suspect later identified as Masieo allegedly swallowed several Oxycontin pills while still inside the pharmacy.
After the pharmacy hold-up, the two suspects parted ways. Cardenas reportedly drove Christopher’s stolen van to Park Street, where he abandoned it and carjacked another vehicle from a father and son. A high-speed chase and pursuit of that stolen vehicle commenced west along SH 9, and eventually ended with Cardenas being taken into custody in the Norman area.
Since Masieo fled the pharmacy on foot, a barrage of law enforcement officers swarmed into Tecumseh as a manhunt pursued.
An abandoned car wash across the street from the pharmacy became a command post for numerous law enforcement agencies. Tecumseh and Shawnee police, Pottawatomie County sheriff’s deputies, area tribal police departments and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol’s tactical team with tracking dogs were among those at the scene.
As authorities set up a perimeter and began a search, they asked the public to check on their friends and neighbors in the Tecumseh area, especially the elderly who live alone, while schools and businesses were locked down. Officers were stationed at highway on-ramps and other intersections to search all vehicles leaving town.
The OHP tactical team began searching around the pharmacy, using a dog team. OHP Lt. George Brown said they used evidence from the robbery to give dogs a scent, and that dog team led authorities eastbound to a residential area about 1.5 blocks away.
The dogs, which are “extraordinarily good at tracking,” Brown said, led them straight to where the suspect was crouched down beside an outbuilding.
Brown said Masieo was not armed and was taken into custody without incident.
All law enforcement agencies participated in what was a collaborative effort, Brown said, and Booth said the area agencies work well together.
“The good guys won this time,” Booth said.
The investigation involved several different incidents in Seminole, Pottawatomie and Cleveland Counties, but the suspects were expected to be booked into the Seminole County jail since the crime spree originated in that county.
Watch for updates.
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