Local: Suspect in killing is arrested in Colorado

Oct 10, 2008 (Tulsa World - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- EBAY | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A Broken Arrow man who is charged with first-degree murder in a Tulsa homicide was arrested Wednesday in Colorado.

Deputy U.S. marshals and Basalt, Colo., police officers arrested John Richard Beato, 22, who is accused of strangling Antonio Flores Munoz in August 2007.

Flores Munoz, 25, was found dead in his mobile home at 4139 S. 104th East Ave. several days after he had been killed, Tulsa police said then.

Beato became a suspect after authorities talked to witnesses and examined evidence at the scene, a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service states.

He was charged in June, but police were unable to find him.

Authorities were told that he might have traveled to Colorado after the homicide, the news release says.

Beato was seen about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in a vehicle in Basalt. He was apprehended without incident and taken to the Eagle County Jail, the release states.

He is awaiting extradition to Tulsa.

Man jailed in rape at apartment complex

A man was arrested Thursday afternoon in connection with a rape at an apartment complex several hours earlier.

The

attacker forced his way into the woman's apartment after he tricked her by saying he needed to use her telephone, police said.

Marvell D. Norton, 25, was booked into the Tulsa Jail on complaints of first-degree rape and first-degree burglary, jail records show.

The woman told police that a man knocked on the door of her apartment in the 2000 block of North Trenton Avenue about 2:30 a.m. Thursday and asked to use her phone.

She thought she recognized him from the apartment complex, so she handed him the phone through the door.

She also picked up her cellular phone as a precaution in case she needed it, Sgt. Gary Stansill said.

Then the man forced his way inside and grabbed the woman. He threatened and choked her and sexually assaulted her, Stansill said.

The woman called the police, and patrol officers and detectives responded. Later Thursday afternoon, an apartment complex employee informed the police that a man who had been staying at the complex recently matched the description of the attacker, Stansill said.

Detectives went back to the complex about 2:30 p.m. and took Norton into custody.

His bail on the rape and burglary complaints and additional traffic charges totals $70,650, according to the Tulsa Jail's Web site.

Ex-hospital worker is sentenced in theft

A former St. John Medical Center employee was sentenced Thursday to four months in prison for stealing medical equipment from the hospital and selling it on eBay.

Billy James Dick, 31, pleaded guilty Jan. 31 to committing wire fraud in August 2006 when he sold a stolen ultrasound machine for about $8,400.

Although his plea pertained only to that transaction, he acknowledged in his plea agreement that he had engaged in similar conduct from July 7, 2005, until Sept. 15, 2006.

He said the total loss to the hospital was between $70,000 and $120,000.

The grand jury that indicted Dick on Nov. 7 on 28 counts of wire fraud alleged that he received more than $64,000 for the equipment, when actually it was worth three or four times that amount.

U.S. District Judge Terence Kern on Thursday ordered Dick to pay $27,349.52 in restitution still owed to St. John.

Dick's prison sentence will begin by Nov. 20, and he will be under court supervision for three years after his release.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Snoke said the thefts were detected after a person who had bought a surgical drill became suspicious and notified authorities.

Oklahoman arrested in online scam case

OKLAHOMA CITY An Oklahoma man who allegedly was involved in an online auction and advertisement scam was arrested in Nebraska this week, ending a five-month search, Attorney General Drew Edmondson's office said Wednesday.

Sarpy County deputies arrested Stephen Douglas Lewis in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue on an outstanding warrant from Rogers County District Court.

Lewis, then 59, was charged in May with 14 counts of unfair or deceptive trade practices alleging that he accepted payment for and failed to deliver several items he placed for sale through online auctions or online advertisements between March 2005 and May 2007.

Edmondson alleged that Lewis scammed nearly $51,000 from consumers in 13 states, including Oklahoma.

An investigation found that Lewis placed trailers, fence panels, metal storage sheds and ceramic insulation materials for sale in online auctions but never delivered the products after receiving full or partial payment, Edmondson said in a news release.

Charges were filed in Rogers County because Lewis had bank accounts in the county, the Attorney General's Office said.

Edmondson said the extradition process to return Lewis to Oklahoma is under way.

Wall falls in building; no injuries reported

No injuries were reported when a wall collapsed in a Tulsa building Thursday morning.

An Inergen fire-extinguishing system had discharged, and the pressure from it pushed out a nonload-bearing partition wall in a computer room on the 10th floor of One Warren Place, 6100 S. Yale Ave., about 9:30 a.m., said Tim Smallwood of the Tulsa Fire Department.

An Inergen fire-suppression system uses an inert gas mixture to reduce the amount of oxygen in a room sufficiently to put out a fire, according to the Ansul Inergen Web site.

No one was in the room when the system discharged and the wall collapsed.

The 20-story office tower was evacuated as a precaution.

Man intervenes in women's fight, is shot

A man was accidentally shot in the chest during an argument between two women early Thursday, police said.

The shooting occurred about 12:30 a.m. in the 3500 block of East Woodrow Street.

The victim, Ronald Tucker, 31, was found lying in a front yard, a police report states.

Shanay McComb, 29, told officers that she had gotten into an argument with a friend who was living with her. McComb asked the friend to leave, but the friend refused, she said.

McComb told police that she pulled a gun to intimidate her friend, the police report states. When Tucker tried to intervene, the gun discharged into his upper torso.

Tucker was taken to St. John Medical Center in serious condition, but his injuries were not believed to be life-threatening.

McComb was arrested on two complaints of assault and battery with a deadly weapon. Her bail was set at $60,000.

Victim of U.S. 169 crash is identified

Police have released the name of the man who was killed Wednesday afternoon in a single-vehicle crash on U.S. 169 in Tulsa.

Ronald Adger Koepp, 55, was partially ejected in the accident just south of 21st Street and was pronounced dead at the scene, Officer Leland Ashley said.

Koepp was driving a 2000 Ford F-250 in the inside southbound lane when he swerved across three lanes as if he were going to exit at 21st Street.

The pickup then veered back across the lanes and struck the concrete median divider twice, police said.

Presentation to focus on workplace bullying

The Tulsa chapter of the Oklahoma Business Ethics Consortium will host an expert on workplace bullying at its luncheon this month.

Dr. Gary Namie, founder of the Workplace Bullying Institute, will present "Workplace Bullying: An American Business Moral Dilemma" at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, at the Southern Hills Marriott hotel, 71st Street and Lewis Avenue.

According to the institute, 37 percent of American workers, or 54 million people, have been bullied at work.

In 62 percent of the cases, the employer does nothing to prevent or stop bullies, the institute said.

People who are interested in the program can register online at

tulsaworld.com/okethics

. The cost is $30 and includes lunch.

OKEthics is a nonprofit organization of business leaders and educators.

Youth Services to be part of Thunder game

Youth Services of Tulsa, a charity that will benefit from Monday's Oklahoma City Thunder exhibition game at Tulsa's BOK Center, will host an eight-minute basketball game at halftime.

Participants from the North Tulsa Youth Program will compete in the game, and the program will receive 20 percent of all proceeds from sponsorships and tickets purchased through Youth Services, said Barry Maxwell, the agency's director of development.

The program provides mentors to north Tulsa youth who are involved in or at risk of participating in gang activity, a news release states.

Sponsors have bought about 100 tickets that will go to Youth Services participants and mentors, but others may buy tickets for themselves through Youth Services for a reduced price of $25, Maxwell said.

The preseason matchup between the Houston Rockets and the Thunder will begin at 7:30 p.m.From staff reports

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