Armed Burglars Target Medical Marijuana Grow In Pottawatomie County

A medical marijuana grow operation in Pottawatomie County was burglarized by armed suspects. It was all caught on surveillance video by the owners. Once deputies arrived, those suspects led them on a pursuit that ended in a crash and manhunt.

It all started around 4:30 a.m. Thursday at a grow facility located off Hazel Dell Road, about seven miles east of McLoud.

“There’s a lot of people,” you can hear on the 911 call.

Owners of the grow operation got an early morning notification and called 911.

“We saw him on the camera right now,” said the caller on the 911 call.

“They said they got a notification that there was some movement detected in the camera and said they barricaded themselves inside where they were staying,” said Lt. Jason Seikel with the Pottawatomie County Sheriff's Office.

“Hurry up, hurry up,” the caller said.

The sheriff’s office says that movement on surveillance video was tied to criminal activity.

“We were able to get a hold of the video and watch it and able to determine some of the suspects were armed and the others had burglary tools to get inside of the building,” Lt. Seikel said.

Investigators say up to nine suspects are involved and got into one of the buildings, taking more than 50 pounds of marijuana stored in vacuum-sealed bags. Knowing grow facilities are a target, deputies patrolling the area were close by.

“He was specifically in this area for that purpose, just doing extra patrols,” Lt. Seikel said.

Once the deputy arrived, the sheriff’s office says the suspects took off, dumping the tubs that the marijuana was in, then leading deputies on a more than 20-mile pursuit where one SUV crashed out on Pate Road in Choctaw. Several agencies helped scour the area for the suspects before calling off the search before noon. The Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation helped process the scene.

“Any chance we get to utilize the tools that they have we take advantage of that,” he said.

Investigators say they will now review the surveillance video to try and figure out the identity of the suspects. Nobody was hurt and investigators say there is no immediate threat to the community.

Anyone with information about this case should contact the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office.