Suspects arrested after violent marijuana grow robberies

Charlene Belew, The Duncan Banner, Okla.
·3 min read

Apr. 29—After months of investigating numerous armed robberies of marijuana grows, law enforcement from across Oklahoma and parts of Texas have arrested suspects they say were allegedly involved.

Undersheriff Rick Lang said the first armed robbery in Stephens County the sheriff's office worked happened in August 2023. Lang said in the five months following, five more similar robberies happened.

"Several were very violent with victims suffering personal injury as well as property damage and loss of property," Lang said.

Then, on Jan. 7, 2024, Lang and the Stephens County Sheriff's Office (SCSO) learned about a robbery in homicide in another part of the state that had "the same mode of operation as the robberies in Stephens County."

According to Hunter McKee with Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI), the homicide on Jan. 7, 2024, was in Okfuskee County. McKee said Okfuskee County Sheriff's Office requested OSBI's assistance after they found a victim, Harry Dam, 53, dead from a gunshot wound at a property near State Highway 48 and East 1020 Road near Castle, Oklahoma. Dam was not the only victim; others had been physically assaulted, McKee said.

When OSBI agents began their work at the scene, they determined "multiple suspects had forced entry onto the property," which was also a legal marijuana grow site.

Twenty days later, on Jan. 27, SCSO responded to another armed robbery — this time, a home invasion robbery at another legal marijuana grow site, McKee said.

Lang said Lt. Tim Vann led the investigation and investigators Leslie Richardson and Daniel Picazzo, along with several other Stephens County deputies, worked the case. They requested OSBI for assistance and through the course of the investigation, information gathered linked the robberies in Stephens County to the robbery in Okfuskee County as well as identified several suspects.

Three months from the homicide, law enforcement — including OSBI's special agents, Stephens County investigators, the Texas Rangers, Waco Police Department and the Dallas-Fort Worth International Police Department — arrested five suspects.

Those arrested on March 7 were 50-year-old Yi Lee, 31-year-old Justin Stewart, 36-year-old Artist Stewart, 45-year-old Ricky Harris, and 29-year-old Timothy Evans in Texas.

According to McKee, another suspect, 35-year-old Andre Dawson, was arrested several days later.

Each of the six suspects arrested were charged for the Stephens County robbery, McKee said.

In April, continued work from law enforcement led to the arrest of four more, according to McKee. That work — which included OSBI special agents, the United States Marshals Service and Oklahoma City Police Department — led to the arrest of 18-year-old Isavier Dawkins, 38-year-old Holland Mason, and 23-year-old Kayla Green in Oklahoma City on April 24.

According to McKee, those four suspects, along with Lee, were then charged in the Okfuskee County homicide and robbery.

Lang said monitoring for similarities between cases has proven key to solving crimes of this nature.

"The Stephens County Sheriff's Department has been able to improve our response to these types of crimes by analyzing the modes of operation of the suspects and the data gathered through the investigations," Lang said.

The investigation, according to OSBI, remains ongoing. Anyone with additional information should contact OSBI via email at tips@osbi.ok.gov or by calling 1-800-522-8017.