A defendant who along with several others was arrested and faced multiple felonies following a robbery at a grow house operation in January of this year has taken a blind guilty plea and drawn prison time.
Reginald Darnell Evans, 37, Charlestown, Mass. Was arrested and formally charged in Lincoln County District Court on Jan. 29, 2025.
He was charged with conspiracy, two counts of first degree burglary, one count of second degree burglary, one count of possessing firearm during commission of a felony and five counts of kidnapping.
In July of this year, Evans, appearing before District Judge Sarah Bridge, entered blind pleas to each count. The judge ordered a pre-sentence investigation.
Recently, appearing before Judge Bridge, he was sentenced to what amounts to serve 10 years in the Department of Corrections and serve 10 years on probation.
He was also assessed $100 fines, $100 VCAs and court costs on each count.
Evans was placed on supervised probation with the Department of Corrections with an intercept compact with the state of Massachusetts and he was ordered to report to the probation office and Court Clerk’s Office within 10 days of release.
Lincoln County Sheriff Kevin Garrett explained this investigation began to unfold when a call came in at 1:19 a.m. on Jan. 24, 2025 from a male reporting the robbery of a marijuana grow facility at 339414 E. U.S. 62. He said there were five suspects who had tied the hands of all employees.
Garrett stated the suspects were armed.
Responding to the scene, he noted, in addition to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office were the Meeker, Stroud, and Wellston Police Departments, the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa, Kickapoo, Absentee Shawnee, Citizen Band Potawatomi and Sac and Fox Tribes.
The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics had a dog handler, and Lincoln and Pottawatomie County Emergency Management provided drones, he stated.
Garrett said one of the suspects was arrested immediately and the other four fled on foot. A perimeter was set up from 3390 Road, 1030 Road, 3400 Road and U.S. 62 going east from U.S. 177 on U.S. 62 for about a mile.
“We located all four and by 5:30 a.m. we had everyone located.” he said.
He said the next morning the OBN did an inspection by search warrant and the DEQ also was involved in the inspection.
The sheriff said that on Thursday, Feb. 27, the OBN did a second search warrant and his office assisted with that.
“We confiscated over 20,000 plants and 80 pounds of cultivated marijuana. ICE detailed and took away five suspects that were on the property. District 3 County Commissioner Lee Doolen provided three dump trucks to haul away the plants and they were destroyed,” he said.
Garrett added and stressed, “The key to all of this was the cooperation from all the various various agencies.”