April 16, 2017
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
The trial of a formerly convicted felon from Sayre has been set and the charge, again, is burglary in the second degree, a criminal felony.
District Judge Doug Haught, last week, set the jury trial date for 45-year-old Darin Christopher Gentry for June 13.
Gentry is charged with burglary in the second degree after he was pulled from the attic of a retail store in Elk City on May 8, 2015.
The store manager of Walls Bargain Center arrived early that morning and heard someone walking on the ceiling and called police. Police were able to use the store’s loud speaker system and told the intruder that they had five seconds to come out of the attic or police would deploy a can of pepper spray into the ceiling.
The store manager and three police officers then heard the words, “Oh, my! I’m coming out,” or wording similar to this.
Moments later, officers pulled Gentry out of the ceiling wearing a camouflage top and black shorts.
He first told officers he was looking for a place to sleep. When they told him they didn’t believe him, he allegedly admitted he was going to steal food because he was poor and hungry.
Gentry was also in court last Friday for a pretrial hearing on new charges, two counts of a controlled, dangerous substance from an incident in March of this year.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Gentry was found arguing with a woman just minutes before 1 am on March 9 while the two were walking near West 7th and Lincoln Streets. Gentry’s active warrant sent him to jail and when he exited the officer’s patrol unit, two small, plastic baggies allegedly dropped out of his pants. The contents of one baggie later tested positive for marijuana, the other for methamphetamine.
Gentry pleaded no contest to a 2nd degree burglary charge in August 2004.
A court date hasn’t been set for Gentry on his latest charges.
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