A couple from Texas is being sought by local law enforcement officers. The pair is accused of stealing a wallet from a vehicle in Seiling and using the stolen checks to make purchases in Woods County.
According to court records, on March 26 Dewey County Deputy Colby Sander took the report of a theft that occurred in Seiling on March 1. Teri Fennema of Chester reported her wallet had been stolen out of her vehicle somewhere in the Seiling area. She wasn’t certain of the exact time or location.
Fennema told Sander that since her wallet was stolen, her checks and debit card had been used in Waynoka, Alva and Thackerville, Oklahoma. She provided a copy of her bank statement showing the checks had been used at Walmart in Alva.
Deputy Sander contacted Walmart in Alva and requested video surveillance footage from the time the checks had been used. Sander went to Walmart and spoke with an assistant manager who used the routing from Fennema’s stolen checks to find the video from when those checks were used.
According to Sander’s report, the video shows a white male with brown hair with blonde on top and a white female with blonde hair wearing a pink hoodie entering Walmart at 8:52 a.m. on March 1. The video shows the pair purchased luggage items totaling $1 84.10 using Fennema’s check. The female also sued another of Fennema’s checks to purchase cigarettes. Another of Fennema’s checks was used in an unspecified purchase in the amount of $182.78 as indicated by the video.
Deputy Sander received still photos of the couple from the Walmart video and gave copies to Woods County Deputy Kyle Fuller. They showed the two going into Walmart on March 1 with the man carrying a small child.
According to Sander’s report, he learned of another stolen check investigation worked by Deputy Sides of Dewey County that had occurred around Feb. 10. That stolen check had been cashed at Seiling Foods in Seiling. Deputy Sander went to Seiling Foods and reviewed video surveillance. A male suspect had been records cashing the stolen check. The man in the video matched the description of the male suspect in Deputy Sander’s case.
A phone number provided by the male suspect to the cashier at Seiling Foods, given so the cashier could confirm the man had permission to cash the check, was found via Facebook on a profile belonging to Tonya Cope. Sander determined from posted photos that Cope was the person seen in the Alva Walmart video. He also learned from her Facebook profile that she is engaged to a man identified as John Lamb. From Facebook photos, he identified Lamb as the man in the Alva Walmart video. According to the Facebook profiles of Cope and Lamb, they have a child together.
Deputy Sander went to Hammerhead’s convenience store in Waynoka and reviewed video footage from their surveillance cameras. He provided copies to Woods County Deputy Fuller. Sander determined that March 1 about 8:15 a.m. a gold Hyundai car pulled into Hammerhead’s to get fuel, coming from the south (the direction of Seiling where Fennema’s wallet was believed to be stolen).
Cope is seen exiting the vehicle to pump gas into it. She is then seen entering the store and attempting to purchase phone accessories with a debit card belonging to Fennema. The transaction was not completed because the card Cope attempted to use was for medical insurance purposes.
Lamb is also seen on the video exiting the Hyundai to remove the gas nozzle. They then get back in the vehicle and leave traveling north which is the direction of Alva.
As the Hyundai left Hammerhead’s the license plate can be seen on the front of the vehicle. The Texas plate is registered to Tonya Lynn Swonger of Wills Point, Texas. Deputy Sander’s report states Tonya Lynn Swonger is an alias for Tonya Cope.
Deputy Sander told Officer Fuller that on March 7, Cope and Lamb were arrested in Arkansas City, Kansas, for burglarizing a vehicle and attempting to pass a check belonging to the victim. According to Sander, the two are currently incarcerated in Kansas on those charges.
Tonya Lynn Cope, 39, of Wills Point, Texas, has been charged in Woods County with receiving, holding or concealing lost or mislaid card, a felony. This crime is punishable by up to three years or a fine up to $3,000, or both.
Cope is also charged with three counts of forgery in the second degree and one count of unauthorized use of a credit card, all misdemeanors.
John Eric Lamb, 35, of Wills Point, Texas, has been charged with four misdemeanors: three counts of forgery in the second degree, and one count of unauthorized use of a credit card.
Lamb was also charged in Dewey County with a misdemeanor of obtaining cash or merchandise by false pretense.
Reader Comments(0)