August 16, 2018
By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –
The Federal Court system has assumed a local Western Oklahoma court case against an Elk City man charged locally with a number of felonies.
Those charges were dropped in Beckham County District Court after the U.S. Western District Court filed similar charges against 37-year-old Owen Henry Long.
Long appeared recently in the federal courthouse in Oklahoma City where he faces a federal charge of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and two additional charges of felon in possession of a firearm as well as possession of a firearm in the furtherance of drug trafficking.
The case may have been transferred to federal prosecutors because Long was on probation as a former convicted felon and is thought to be involved in the United Aryan Brotherhood.
The brotherhood, also known as the Brand or the AB, is considered a white supremacist and Neo-Nazi prison gang and organized crime syndicate with an estimated 18-thousand members in and out of prison and is thought to be responsible for a large number of prison murders.
Long was arrested in Elk City on June 20, 2018 following a brief chase in a pickup that reached nearly 100 miles an hour down south Main Street, south of Interstate 40.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the silver pickup with a defective tag light passed an Elk City patrolman on Randall Avenue near 20th Street about 9:30 pm.
As another police cruiser joined the chase, the pickup veered into the right turning lane nearly colliding with another vehicle. It then swerved back onto Highway 6 and accelerated to near 100 miles an hour with police in pursuit. When it attempted to slow down to make a turn, the pickup jumped a curb, exiting the roadway and clipping a tie down on a power line poll and came to rest in a field.
At least one officer drew their firearm and began giving commands. The passenger, Long – who is also known by police as Ardmore – was ordered to the ground multiple times before finally being tackled by an officer. He was applied with multiple strikes to his right ribs in order to gain his compliance and was then secured in restraints.
The probable cause affidavit says the pickup had a strong odor of raw marijuana. A search of the area near the vehicle allegedly lead to the discovery of a gallon size plastic bag containing a large amount of what is suspected to be methamphetamine as well as four vacuum sealed bags of marijuana, a digital scale, two small bags of meth, four pills thought to be Oxycontin and a .38 caliber Ruger.
The officer wrote in a report that the officer has knowledge of Long being the center of multiple drug activity investigations.
During book-in at the city jail, Long became enraged and had to be placed in the detox room while displaying multiple signs of what officers believed were associated with being under the influence of narcotics. He had erratic, involuntary jaw movements, an inability to stay seated along with emotional outbreaks and erratic hand movements.
US Magistrate Charles Goodwin denied bail for Long citing his criminal history and a risk he would flee.
A trial date has not been set.
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