LADONNA RHODES STAFF WRITER
On Thursday, July 11, in the early morning hours, Checotah Chief of Police Darren Glover and Lieutenant Marvin Harrell responded to an urgent call by the manager of Checotah Stop, Sheila Ward, regarding an alleged kidnapping.
Ward, who has worked at Checotah Stop for seven years, had opened the store that morning when a man came in to prepay for his gas with a young girl.
“They came into the store together but she went straight to the bathroom and he prepaid for the gas,” Ward said. “After she came out of the bathroom, she found me and asked for help.”
That’s when the young girl told Ward to call the police and Ward made the quick decision to call the police department directly and put her phone on speaker while the man was still pumping gas outside.
“We only had a few minutes so I knew we had to act fast. I just said I needed an officer and then I had her tell them what was going on. That’s when she said she had been kidnapped and needed help.”
Ward stated she didn’t try to hide the girl or keep her in the store because she didn’t know if the man had a weapon or not. So she just acted like nothing was wrong when he entered the store again to retrieve his change.
“The girl was really scared. I have never seen fear in someone’s eyes like that before. I was worried that he would get away but then I saw the officers coming through the intersection.”
When the officers arrived, the suspect was pulling out from the gas station but Glover was able to pull him over on a traffic violation as Harrell pulled out the juvenile from the passenger’s side. “It all happened so fast, I honestly didn’t have time to think, just react. I know I saved her life. After the police had him and she was safe, I couldn’t stop crying. You just replay every moment over and over in your head. I’m just so thankful to the Checotah Police Department for responding so fast too.”
According to the police report, 27-yearold Marco Almanza from Collins, TX, was booked for kidnapping the 14-year-old juvenile from her home in McKinney, TX and then driving her across state lines.
Police stated the juvenile had met Almanza through TikTok and had agreed to meet him. However, when she went outside her home to meet him, he threatened to harm her family and she was forced to get into the vehicle with him.
Checotah PD hopes parents and guardians realize that these types of crimes are on the rise and they should watch their children’s social media accounts closely to keep predators at bay.
Investigator Jacob Mitchell will be seeking federal charges on Almanza.
Mitchell is part of TACETT (Tornado Alley Child Exploitation and Trafficking Task Force) started by Homeland Security to help combat the trafficking and exploitation of minors in the eastern part of Oklahoma.
This is an ongoing investigation.
