By Conrad Dudderar
Associate Editor
EL RENO – A felon has been sentenced to serve 17 years in state prison for his role in a home invasion and kidnapping of a Yukon man three years ago.
Oklahoma City’s Jesse Alan Spahr, 40, pleaded guilty Aug. 16 in Canadian County District Court to conjoint robbery, kidnapping and larceny of a motor vehicle.
A robbery with a firearm charge was dismissed.
Spahr was formally charged March 20 stemming from an August 2020 incident at a home in the 700 block of Dusty Trail.
The house, east of Mustang Road between N.W. 10th and Interstate 40, has a Yukon address but is in Oklahoma City limits.
Spahr and Yukon’s Johnathan Laderis Johnson acted “together and conjointly” to rob the victim by stealing his money and threatening to shoot him and “cause him bodily harm” if he resisted, according to court documents.
Spahr forcibly seized the victim from the Dusty Trail home, confining the man against his will inside the victim’s vehicle before taking him to N.W. 10th and Cimarron Road.
Spahr had broken into the victim’s dwelling house with the intent to commit robbery and stole the man’s 2019 Toyota Tundra pickup.
Already a convicted felon who had spent time in state prison, Spahr was arrested July 13 and booked into the Canadian County Jail on his latest felony charges.
Canadian County Special Judge Charles Gass sentenced Spahr at an Aug. 16th court hearing.
The defendant, who appeared with his public defender Gregg Graves, entered his guilty plea to counts two through four – conjoint robbery, kidnapping and larceny of a motor vehicle.
Judge Gass then dismissed count one – robbery with a firearm – before sentencing Spahr to 32 years in state Department of Corrections’ custody.
Spahr was sentenced to serve the first 17 years in prison with the last 15 years suspended for the conjoint robbery.
He was sentenced to 17 years in prison with three years of probation for the kidnapping and five years in prison for the vehicle larceny.
All counts will run concurrent to each other, and with other criminal cases; and the defendant was given credit for time served.
Spahr will be supervised by the state DOC while on probation after his release from prison. He was ordered to pay fines and victim’s compensation assessments.
Spahr has previous felony convictions in Oklahoma County District Court for distribution of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a CDS (marijuana) and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.
He served time in state prison from July 2007 to February 2010.
Co-conspirator Johnson had been formally charged in June 2021 in connection with the Yukon robbery, kidnapping and truck theft.
He was convicted in January 2022 on conjoint robbery, kidnapping, first-degree burglary, and larceny of motor vehicle charges.
After Johnson pleaded guilty, Judge Gass sentenced him to 17 years in prison followed by 15 years of probation.
Johnson, now 31, is housed at the Davis Correctional Facility in Holdenville.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Oklahoma City Police investigated the home invasion and kidnapping that occurred Aug. 20, 2020, at the Dusty Trail address.
The victim had known Spahr for several years and previously been a mentor to him due to Spahr’s drug addiction, according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed by an Oklahoma City police detective.
“Jesse told (the victim) he wanted to turn himself into a rehab center and work on getting his kids back,” the affidavit reads.
They agreed to meet at an Oklahoma City restaurant, but Spahr contacted the victim at the last minute asking to come at the man’s Yukon home.
A black male – later identified as Johnson – showed up at the front door with a shotgun and purportedly held both men at gunpoint.
“Jesse was told by the black male suspect to tie up (the victim),” the police investigator’s affidavit reads. “(The victim’s) hands and feet were bound at this point. The black male suspect kept telling Jesse he owed him money and he was here to collect his payment.”
Investigators later determined Spahr and Johnson had conspired to rob the man of his wallet and the Toyota Tundra.
They placed a plastic bag over the victim’s head and drove him in his pickup west to the area of N.W. 10th and Cimarron Road.
The victim was walked to a tree line in a pasture and tied up to a tree.
Spahr and Johnson then fled the area in the victim’s vehicle.
Several minutes later, the victim broke free and found a nearby house where he called police. Officers located the straps used to bind his hands and feet.
The police investigator identified Spahr after reviewing surveillance video taken in the victim’s living room during the robbery.
Spahr was a suspect in a similar robbery and subsequent vehicle pursuit that occurred a month early in Oklahoma City.
