2 arrested in Exchange thefts Published Nov. 27, 2012 By Mike W. Ray Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Tinker's 72nd Security Forces recently arrested two jobless men who are charged with stealing merchandise from the Base Exchange last month. One of the two suspects admitted his role in the affair, and some of the stolen property was recovered from the other suspect's vehicle, said Master Sgt. Rodney Cochran of the 72nd SFS. One of the suspects is a medically retired Army veteran who served a 15-year prison sentence for armed robbery and assault, said Sergeant Cochran, 72nd SFS non-commissioned officer in charge of investigations. The case against the suspects was prepared by Tinker's Staff Judge Advocate's office, and criminal charges of larceny and conspiracy to commit larceny have been preferred. The case began to unfold when 72 SFS received a complaint in October from the BX Loss Prevention unit that some men had been discovered loitering in the central area of the BX, Sergeant Cochran said. In addition, he said, one of the security cameras in the building showed one of the men stealing "a couple thousand dollars' worth of merchandise." Later, one of the men returned to the store and stole some more merchandise, the investigator said. The thefts occurred when few employees were still in the BX but the security cameras were in working order. "Cameras cover every inch of the BX," Sergeant Cochran said. Security Forces had a physical description of the suspected thieves but no names, he said. "What cracked the case," he said, "was a photo of the suspects' vehicle, obtained from an outdoor surveillance camera." Descriptions of the suspects and the vehicle were circulated throughout Security Forces, and "a week or two later" Tech. Sgt. Rasheam Moore-Coates noticed the suspects' vehicle parked at the BX. Security Forces officers "made contact with" the owner of the vehicle, and recognized his accomplice from the surveillance video, Sergeant Cochran said. The pair were "scoping out the BX again," he said. "We don't know for sure whether the other people in the video were associated with these guys, but we do know we got the two primary suspects." The Army veteran gained admission to Tinker via his military ID, and the other suspect has no affiliation with Tinker but was sponsored on base, Sergeant Cochran said. One of the suspects lives in downtown Oklahoma City but is unemployed, and the other is homeless but drives a luxury SUV and claims to be a preacher, Investigator Cochran said. Both middle-aged men are "street savvy" and "have done jail time," the sergeant said. One suspect refused to cooperate, but the other "basically admitted" that he distributed some of the stolen merchandise in his neighborhood and sold the rest. "He said that while he was in the BX, he only saw cleaning personnel around, so he took what he could." More than $1,500 in vendor merchandise was filched, and Security Forces recovered more than $1,000 in stolen property from the suspect's vehicle, Sergeant Cochran said. Both civilians were released from custody but were given notice to appear in federal district court in Oklahoma City to answer the charges pending against them. Sergeant Cochran praised the efforts of SFS personnel who worked the case, including Tech. Sgts. Anthony Nixon, Jeremy Blaschke and Moore-Coates, and Investigators David Langston, Jennifer Pounds and Dean Martinez.