Property stolen from OKC officers found

A man was arrested last week and a search of his home revealed property, including a bulletproof vest, stolen from two Oklahoma City officers.

On July 26, Oklahoma City police were assisting an investigator with the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office in serving a search warrant at the home of Justin Lee Tedford, 30, on a tip about stolen property, according to a court affidavit.

Officer Megan Morgan, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City Police Department, said before officers could serve the warrant, a car left the house and officers recognized the man driving the vehicle, Michael Allen Martin, 27, as being wanted on an outstanding warrant. The vehicle was stopped near Interstate 44 and Kelley Avenue, where officers located Martin and Tedford in the vehicle and arrested both on outstanding warrants.

In a search of Tedford’s room at the home, officers found a bulletproof vest and a handheld Oklahoma City police radio that had been stolen from an officer’s vehicle. During the search, officers also found a football signed by former Penn State coach Joe Paterno and saw blades that were stolen from a storage unit belonging to another Oklahoma City officer, according to the affidavit.

Police also found a glass pipe with methamphetamine residue.

At the time of the arrest, Tedford was on a suspended sentence for drug possession. Investigators wrote in the affidavit that Tedford is thought to be associated with a group of people that had committed “larcenies and burglaries in the Oklahoma City, Del City, Midwest City, Nicoma Park and Choctaw areas.”

Tedford was booked into the Oklahoma County jail on complaints of concealing stolen property, drug and paraphernalia possession and violating a protective order.

Martin is being held at the Oklahoma County jail on a number of complaints, including concealing stolen property, drug possession and making a false declaration of ownership to a pawnbroker.