Social media and some good police work has resulted in the recovery of a local families car in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, that was stolen in Hartford on August 27.
Police in the Bartlesville area are on the lookout for 19-year-old Tyler Larson and a 16-year-old female juvenile in the theft of a 2005 Nissan Pathfinder from the residence of Chris Bates of Hartford.
Chris Bates of Hartford said the vehicle was stolen from his home in the small Sebastian County community at 3:25 a.m. on Monday. A surveillance camera at a neighbors house caught the theft and Bates posted the video on Facebook and in a group called “Hartford, Arkansas 72938” as well as various other local pages.
Bates and his wife, who have four children, said the vehicle was their only means of transportation. Bates said is wife ha left he keys in the ignition after taking a ride to calm down a fussy child and failed to take the keys when she returned home.
People who saw the video were able to identify the suspects as Larson and the juvenile female. A third man was with the couple before when they took the car but he reportedly told the suspects that stealing the vehicle as a “stupid idea” and didn’t participate in the crime.
The video and information about the car theft was shared on Facebook pages in the Bartlesville area and the Bartlesville Police Department got involved. Officers from that agency located the car on Wednesday but Larson the juvenile are still at large.
“We are on our way to pick up the car,” said Bates on Thursday. “We’re just glad to get it back and the police over there in Bartlesville have been great.”
Lawson, whose mother lives in Bartlesville, is no stranger to police in Oklahoma. In 2011 Bartlesville police arrested Lydia Larson when a then 13-year old Tyler Larson slammed a five-year-old in Lydia Larson’s custody to the ground resulting in injuries that required a five hour surgery to repair.
Last December, Larson and a 28-year old female were arrested in Bartlesville following a police chase in which Larson stole a GMC Acadia. Larson rammed a woman’s car with her infant son inside and the police locate a gun in the stolen vehicle. Officers said they believe Larson had been stealing other items from cars and his passenger, Venssa Didonna, was arrested for joyriding.
Larson is currently being sought in both Arkansas and Oklahoma.
