Sapulpa Police made a random traffic stop for a minor violation that turned into the recovery of a stolen vehicle and landed two people in jail on July 10th.
Officer Randal Arnold observed the vehicle to be in the inside lane of travel then make an abrupt lane change into the turn lane to go east on Interstate 44, and then made another abrupt turn onto the onramp. Arnold observed that the driver did not signal either time and activated his overhead lights for a traffic stop.
When Arnold approached the vehicle, he found a 16-year-old teenager in the driver’s seat, but it was the passenger—later identified as 23-year-old Matthew Bexfield—who did most of the talking, and through that landed the both of them in custody.
After asking for license and insurance verification, Bexfield stated that the insurance verification had been taken out of the vehicle when it was broken into previously. Officer Arnold asked if the truck was his and Bexfield told Arnold that he was in the process of buying the vehicle, but insisted that the truck was his. Arnold then asked Bexfield for his identification, but was told that he had left his wallet at home.
According to the affidavit from Sapulpa Police, Arnold called dispatch with the vin number and was told that the truck had been reported stolen. It was at this point he took both the teenaged driver and Bexfield into custody. Bexfield was charged with knowingly receiving stolen property.
Bexfield previously had a burglary charge from November of 2013.
