Three thieves from Texas are wanted by Oklahoma authorities for allegedly stealing $25,000 from a man while he stopped to pray at a shrine.
Gabriel Lara, Nicholas Barrientos, and Ruben Barrientos — who all have prior offenses — allegedly stalked out their victim before snatching the load of cash from his car while he visited the Oklahoma City holy site, KOCO reported.
The trio started off their day in early November by stealing an Oklahoma license plate off of a car outside of Santa Fe South High School in Oklahoma City, police said. They placed the stolen license plate on their own car, ditching their old ones and hitting the road, according to the local news station.
The suspects then drove to a nearby Bank of America to search for potential people of interest. Their unidentified victim arrived at the bank and withdrew $25,000, planning on using the money to buy a vehicle, the station reported.
The suspects allegedly tailed their victim’s car all the way to the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine. The holy site is dedicated to Stanley Rother, the first priest born in the United States to be beatified by the Catholic Church.
Their victim parked far away from other cars and made his way up a hill to the shrine to pray. Meanwhile, the suspects smashed the window of his vehicle, grabbed the money inside and made off with all the cash, police said, according to the outlet.
The trio allegedly hightailed north until they were stopped by police in Wichita, Kan. for a traffic violation.
The officers “noted the smell of marijuana and conflicting travel stories,” according to court documents obtained by the outlet.
The authorities searched the vehicle and found the stacks of cash, but let them go with a citation because “no drugs were found, and no prior drug charges were found,” according to court documents.
The officers asked the suspects about the wads of money, but the driver explained that it was from a vehicle he had recently sold, KOCO reported.
All three suspects had Texas IDs and addresses, and the registered owner of their car confirmed that it had been sold to Lara. All three also had no ties to Oklahoma, according to the arrest warrants.
Their previous record all comes from crimes committed in Waco, Texas. Lara was previously charged with evading arrest, Ruben Barrientos with theft of property and burglary of vehicles and Nicholas Barrientos with driving while intoxicated, according to the documents.
They are all facing several new charges in Oklahoma including but not limited to larceny and pattern of criminal offenses.
All three remain at large.