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June 30, 2012

Guilty plea made in 2007 store fire

Man ordered to pay $1.35M in restitution

By Dylan Goforth Phoenix Staff Writer

— A Warner man pleaded guilty Friday to arson and computer crimes and was ordered to pay $1.35 million in restitution.

James Lamar Sikes, 37, pleaded guilty in Muskogee County District Court to second-degree arson and violation of the Oklahoma computer crimes act.

Sikes was sentenced to 25 years in Oklahoma Department of Corrections custody, with 21 1/2 years suspended. He also was ordered to pay $1,350,000 in restitution in the arson plea.

Sikes was arrested June 19, 2007, and charged the next day with arson after he set fire to the Glover’s 66 convenience store, gas station and mechanic bays on Oklahoma 2 in Warner.

The fire caused an estimated $1.2 million in damage.

“You won’t be able to pay this back in your lifetime, will you, Mr. Sikes?” District Judge Mike Norman asked Sikes as the plea was read.

“No, sir,” Sikes said, shaking his head.

Norman later told Sikes that although Sikes won’t be able to pay the entire restitution, “you got to work on it.”

Sikes went to trial on the arson in 2011, but jurors were split, and District Judge Tom Alford declared a mistrial.

During the trial, an officer testified that surveillance tapes showed Sikes buying matches across the street from the convenience store and walking back to the store, where the fire began.

Nine jurors believed Sikes was guilty; three believed him innocent.

Sikes was charged Nov. 28, 2011, with distribution of obscene material, three counts of attempted distribution/publication of obscene material to a minor, one count of violation of Oklahoma computer crimes acts, and three counts of violation of Oklahoma statute via computer.

Court documents stated that Sikes attempted to send nude images and images involving oral sodomy to three minors.

At the time Sikes was charged, assistant district attorney Gary Huggins said the attempt to send the pictures failed. All the computer-related charges except the violation of Oklahoma computer crimes act was dismissed, he said.

Reach Dylan Goforth at (918) 684-2903 or dgoforth@muskogeephoenix.com.

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