A Prague man, already facing five felonies in two separate cases, among them operating a chop shop, now has been charged with a sixth felony.
Mick Devin Vancuren, 31, was formally charged June 3 in Lincoln County District Court with intimidation of witness after former conviction of two more felonies.
A $30,000 bench warrant was issued for his arrest the same day the new charge was filed.
Court records show that the warrant was returned and filed recently and that he made an initial appearance before Special Judge Emily Mueller on June 10.
She ordered him to appear back in court on June 23 and the $30,000 bond to remain.
In the most recent felony filed against him, Vancuren is accused on May 20 of this year, in Prague, of feloniously threatening physical harm to Henry Arthur, an endorsed witness in Lincoln County District Court, by sending Arthur text messages, telling him that he better not show up to testify and challenging Arthur to a gun fight.
In the two other cases, four felony and two misdemeanor charges were formally filed April 18 in Lincoln County District Court against Vancuren.
At that time he was charged with operating/dealing with a chop shop after former conviction of two or more felonies; conspiracy after former conviction of two or more felonies; pattern of criminal offenses after two or more felonies; and possession of stolen vehicle after former conviction of two or more felonies.
The two misdemeanors include destroying evidence and obstructing an officer.
He made his initial appearance before Associate District Judge Shelia Kirk on April 18. She set his bond at $10,000 and scheduled a pre-preliminary hearing for April 21.
Lincoln County and Okfuskee County deputies were involved in the investigation.
Count 1 accuses Vancuren between March 18 and April 9 of committing the offense by maintaining any building, lot or other premise where one or more persons are or have been engaged in altering, destroying, disassembling, dismantling, reassembling or knowingly storing any motor vehicle part known to be illegally obtained by theft, fraud or conspiracy to either alter, counterfeit, deface, destroy, disguise, falsify, forge, obliterate or remove the identity, including the vehicle ID number of a motor vehicle or motor vehicle part in order to misrepresent the identity of that motor vehicle or motor vehicle part or to prevent the ID of the motor vehicle or part or sell or dispose of the vehicle or vehicle part.
In Count 2 Vancuren, in the same time frame, is accused of conspiring and agreeing with Kenneth Simon to commit the crime of operating a chop shop.
It further alleges he and Simon stored and dismantled stolen vehicles in furtherance of the conspiracy.
The third felony, pattern of criminal offenses after former prior conviction of two or more felonies, charges Vancuren with engaging in that pattern in Pottawatomie, Lincoln and Okfuskee counties as part of the same plan, scheme and adventure during that same time frame.
County 4 accuses him of possessing a stolen 2004 Chevy truck which had been stolen from Kendall Green on March 19.
The misdemeanor of destroying evidence accuses him of destroying a cell phone that he knew was about to be produced at the investigation on April 8 in the case of a Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department report in District Court with the intent to prevent the phone from being produced.
The other misdemeanor charges him with obstructing Lincoln County Sheriff Department’s Larry Stover, Sr. in the performance of his duties by providing misleading information, breaking a cell phone which was to be used as evidence and attempting to have Stover strike him. Prosecutors also filed supplemental information
Prosecutors also filed supplemental information against Vancuren showing on Feb. 24, 2020, in Lincoln County District Court he was convicted of possession of a stolen vehicle and obstructing.
The other felony, filed March 22 in Lincoln County District Court, charges Vancuren with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
On that charge, he made his initial appearance March 31 before Special Judge Emily Mueller. His bond was set at $10,000.
He is accused on March 7 of assaulting and battering Arthur with a Silver Chevy truck to injure him.