Slush Pile: Police say 2 Enid men were cau

2006 Slush Pile

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Police say 2 Enid men were cau

2006 Reader Submission
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By Cass Rains Staff Writer Two Enid men have been charged with three felony crimes each after an inadvertent cell phone call to police lasting more than three hours detailed their alleged plot and actions.

A call to the 911 call center was placed from a cell phone inside the pickup of one of the men, and the line was kept open and recording for three hours and 45 minutes.

Robert Allen Patterson, 24, and Johnny Ray Miller, 48, both were charged Tuesday in Garfield County District Court with third-degree arson and conspiracy. Patterson also was charged with manufacturing an incendiary device, and Miller was charged with transporting an incendiary device.

During the course of the phone call, dispatchers and officers say they heard the two men discuss building a fire bomb and using it to burn a vehicle.

A minute after the men were heard discussing burning the vehicle another call was received reporting a vehicle fire in the 1100 block of East Chestnut, Enid Police Department Detective Mark Pettus said. While officers were speaking with the owner of the vehicle that was burned, a brown pickup drove by, and the car�s owner told police the driver of the pickup could be a suspect, according to court documents

Later, while still monitoring the original call, EPD officer Andy Morris located a pickup matching the description of the one given by the victim.

Sgt. David Gibson was monitoring the call and had Morris sound his horn to see if it could be heard on the call from the cell phone, according to the affidavit. Morris sounded his horn, and it was heard by Gibson, so Morris initiated a traffic stop.

After receiving consent from Miller to search his pickup, Morris and officer Greg Liebl found a lighter, a claw hammer with glass particles embedded into it and a leather jacket with the smell of a flammable liquid, according to an affidavit. The cell phone that was in contact with the police department was located on the dash of the pickup.

The officers had the men say their names into the phone, and they sounded like the same voices heard throughout the call, the affidavit states.

�They didn�t have a clue they had dialed the phone,� Pettus said. �They thought we were lying to them about the call.�

During an interview with detectives, in which portions of the phone call were played, Patterson identified one of the voices as Miller�s but denied hearing his voice on the recordings, according to the affidavit.

Detectives asked Patterson what his favorite car was, and he said it was a 1963 Chevrolet Impala, according to court documents. Detectives then played a portion of the tape in which the man suspected of being Patterson said his favorite car was a 1963 Chevy Impala.

Patterson admitted to placing a light bulb of gasoline in the victim�s vehicle, according to the affidavit, and said an earlier attempt to make a bomb using rubbing alcohol failed because the bulb broke and the rubbing alcohol spilled. He showed detectives how to prepare the light bulb and called it a bulb bomb.

Miller continually denied being involved in the arson. Detectives played portions of the tape in which a voice is heard saying �I got a lighter, dude,� and �it will burn long,� according to an affidavit. Miller admitted it was his voice but said he had just talked about making the bomb and never did anything.

Enid Police Chief Rick West said the case was �unusual and extremely ironic.� The chief credited the work of his officers, sergeants and detectives, as well as the dispatchers in the call center.

�I believe they did a very good job at locating these individuals,� West said, �They stayed right on top of this.�

Patterson faces a fine of up to $10,000, 15 years in prison or both on the arson charge. He also faces three to 10 years, a fine of up to $10,000 or both on the manufacturing charge and up to 10 years, a fine of $5,000 or both on the conspiracy charge.

Miller, because of four prior felony convictions, faces four years to life on the arson charge, nine years to life for transporting an incendiary device and four years to life for conspiracy.

Patterson�s bond was set at $10,000 and Miller�s was set at $15,000. Both men are scheduled to return to court May 3 for a bond appearance.

Submitted on 03/15/2006

Submitted by: John Rooks
Reference: Enid News and Eagle 03/1506

>> Moderator Scores <<

James said:
Definitely Toss: Other
Thanks, John, but this is a "dumb criminal" story and not a DA candidate. Feel free to submit this to "DumbCrooks.com", they may get a kick out of it! :-)

Sheryl said:
Definitely Toss: Other
I hope dumbcrooks.com does, I certainly did. Thanks for the story.

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2006 Slush Pile

Police say 2 Enid men were cau

2006 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

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2006 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

>> The Darwin Awards, by Wendy Northcutt <<
Link to Fight Evil.