A self-serve farm stand in Choctaw has been robbed twice in less than a week, and police are asking whoever is responsible to come forward before they make an image of the suspect public. Officers say more than $100 worth of products were taken from the stand near S. Indian Meridian and S.E. 15th Street on Sept. 30 and again on Oct. 3, and surveillance footage captured the suspect.
Clear Images, But Police Are Holding Back
The Choctaw Police Department is investigating the theft from the small business after it happened on two separate occasions within days of each other, according to KOKH. Rather than immediately releasing a photo of the suspect's face, investigators chose to first share images of the vehicle involved, explaining they wanted to give the responsible party a chance to come forward on their own. Police said they do have clear images of the suspect, but are holding those back for now.
The department is asking anyone who recognizes the vehicle or knows who the suspect might be to get in touch. Officers framed the appeal directly to whoever is responsible, asking them to contact the department and do the right thing, adding that stealing from someone running a small business is not the answer.
A Noon Deadline Looms
Police say they will release an image of the suspect at noon Wednesday if the person does not come forward by then. That gives the person involved until then to come forward before the image is made public.
Beyond pursuing the suspect, Choctaw police also offered something unusual for a theft investigation — a reminder that help exists for anyone who might be struggling to put food on the table. The department said it can connect people struggling to afford food with community resources, a notable gesture folded into what is otherwise a straightforward property-crime appeal.
Food Insecurity Remains a Statewide Struggle
That offer lands against a broader backdrop in Oklahoma, where hunger remains a persistent problem well beyond any single farm stand. The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma distributes an average of 50 million pounds of food each year through more than 1,300 community-based partners across 53 central and western Oklahoma counties. The organization says most of the people it serves are chronically hungry children, seniors on limited incomes, and working families trying to make ends meet, and that Oklahoma ranks 10th among states for food insecurity rates among seniors.
Farm stand thefts like the one in Choctaw aren't entirely isolated in Oklahoma. Last fall, the Caddo County Sheriff's Office said it was searching for two suspects accused of stealing from a family farm stand, according to a separate report from KOKH, though that case involved a different county and different circumstances.
For now, police say they will release the suspect's image at noon Wednesday if the person does not come forward first. Whether the suspect does so before then remains to be seen.
