A 39-year-old Wilson man is facing multiple felony charges after deputies say he pulled a gun on officers responding to a burglary call at a marijuana grow facility in the unincorporated community of Courtney early Monday morning. Conro Vernon allegedly drew the weapon after being given lawful commands, prompting an officer to fire a shot that missed him before he threw the gun to the ground and was taken into custody without further incident.
The confrontation began around 4:40 a.m. when Love County deputies responded to a suspected burglary at the grow facility, according to KXII. Officers and deputies found Vernon inside a building attempting to steal copper, the station reports. A Marietta Police Department officer assisted Love County deputies during the response, underscoring how rural agencies along the Texas border lean on mutual aid for high-risk calls in remote stretches of the county.
Investigators determined Vernon was a convicted felon and that the handgun he pulled had been reported stolen out of Texas, per the same KXII report. He was booked into the Love County Justice Center in Marietta, with jail records showing bookings recorded at 7:57 a.m. Monday, according to the Love County Sheriff's Office.
Charges Stack Up After Standoff
According to jail records cited by the station's report, Vernon faces charges including carrying or possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, using a firearm while committing a felony, entering with intent to steal copper, entering a structure with intent to commit a crime or breaking and entering, and receiving, possessing, or concealing stolen property. Together, the charges reflect the layered legal exposure now facing Oklahoma copper thieves who carry weapons during break-ins.
Oklahoma's copper theft statute, Title 21, Section 1727, makes entering premises or easements to steal copper wire, cable, or tubing without consent a standalone felony, carrying one to five years in state prison, up to 200 days in county jail, and fines up to $500, according to Boeheim Freeman Law. Separately, Title 21, Section 1283 strictly bars anyone with a prior felony conviction from owning or possessing a firearm, a violation charged independently of the underlying theft, per the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.
Lawmakers Escalate Penalties Statewide
Vernon's case arrives as Oklahoma ramps up its legal response to a statewide copper theft surge. Governor Kevin Stitt signed Senate Bill 1232 in May, creating a new Class C2 felony for copper theft causing $100,000 or more in damage, with fines up to $50,000 and enhanced prison terms that take effect November 1, according to the Oklahoma Governor's Office.
The scale of the problem has been staggering for telecom infrastructure alone. AT&T logged more than 300 copper theft incidents across its Oklahoma network through August, ranking the state sixth nationwide for network-disrupting wire thefts, as previously reported, prompting the company to offer a $10,000 reward for tips leading to arrests.
Rural Grow Sites Remain Frequent Targets
Vernon's arrest also fits a broader pattern of intruders targeting Oklahoma's licensed marijuana grow operations, many of which sit in isolated rural areas with limited law enforcement coverage. Earlier this month, four armed, hooded suspects cut through two security fences at a Grady County grow while staff hid inside, an incident Hoodline covered in its report on the vanishing armed gang. The risks tied to these break-ins are not hypothetical: federal and state prosecutors secured guilty pleas in August from two suspects who fatally shot two occupants during an armed 2025 burglary at a Garvin County grow residence, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Courtney itself is a sparsely populated unincorporated community in western Love County, situated near the mouth of Mud Creek and the Red River along the Texas border, according to background compiled on Wikipedia. Love County Sheriff Andy Cumberledge, who took office after the death of Sheriff Marty Grisham and won his first full term starting in January 2025, oversees a department patrolling 532 square miles of rural terrain bordering Texas — a vast area that makes cross-agency backup, like the Marietta officer's assistance Monday, essential for responding quickly to armed encounters.
Investigators have not said whether Vernon acted alone or whether he may be connected to a broader copper theft or recycling operation spanning the Texas-Oklahoma border. Formal charging decisions from the district attorney's office had not been announced as of Monday.
