Agent arrests suspects in Craigslist robbery scam

By: Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations

An Oklahoma City family is robbed at gunpoint in rural Logan County Saturday night after answering a craigslist advertisement for the sale of a vehicle.

Jorge Morales called a cell phone number listed on craigslist for a Chevy pickup truck. The seller asked Morales to meet him at the Love’s Travel Stops off Interstate 35 at the Guthrie exit. When Morales, his wife, and three young children arrived at the convenience store, they could not find the vehicle which was supposed to be parked in the lot. Morales called the cell phone number again. The seller indicated he could not meet at the store and Morales should drive to the seller’s home in rural Logan County. Morales took the directions and drove to the location which was a dead end street.

As Morales and his family sat in their vehicle waiting for the seller, two females and one male walked up to the vehicle. The two females had handguns. One female went to the driver’s side of the vehicle and demanded Morales give her the $3,500 cash that was brought for the purchase of the truck. The three suspects got away with the cash and no one was hurt. While robberies like these are rare, there are still consequences for those who take part in a robbery. This kind of arm robbery could see those involved looking at jail time. If you find yourself in a similar situation and being charged for robbery you might want to look into someone similar to these Prime Lawyers who might be able to help with your case.

As the robbery was taking place, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper who lived nearby noticed a suspicious abandoned vehicle parked on a rural road. The trooper watched the vehicle and waited. Minutes later he saw three people, two females and one male, get inside the car. The trooper stopped the car and questioned the three. Without probable cause to keep them, he let them leave. The next day the trooper heard a bolo (be on the lookout) on two females and one male who had robbed a family approximately ½ mile from where he had stopped the car.

The three described in the bolo closely met the descriptions of the three he stopped. The trooper had the license tag number to the vehicle and a bolo was released on the vehicle. In the meantime, a Logan County detective investigating the robbery found a similar listing on craigslist. The Logan County Sheriff’s Office requested OSBI assistance in finding the suspects.

OSBI agents gathered phone records and employed other investigative tools to track down the threesome Tuesday night at a McDonald’s in the 900 Block of West 6th in Stillwater. As the suspects parked in the restaurant’s lot, an OSBI agent and several OSU officers arrested the three college students.

Gabriel Barr (d.o.b. 5-11-1989) and Rotesha Jackson (d.o.b. 10-12-1992) were arrested and booked into the Logan County Jail on a complaint of Robbery with a Dangerous Weapon. Sylvia Lee (d.o.b. 5-2-1990) was arrested and booked for Robbery with a Dangerous Weapon and Assault and Battery. She and Jackson are students at Oklahoma State University. Barr is a student at Langston University.

Today, OSBI agents are serving search warrants on the suspects’ apartments and vehicle to collect evidence of the robbery.