Tulsa Police: Waiting Months For Arrest Warrants For Robbery Suspects

Tulsa Police Department's robbery unit says they want to arrest suspects, but can't because they've been waiting months for the warrants.

Police are frustrated because they know who many of these violent criminals are and they want to arrest them before they strike again, but they can't do anything without a warrant.

Christina Williams was inside a QuikTrip last July, getting money from the A-T-M, when a couple robbed her.

"She pushed me down and snatched my money out of my purse and ran out of the store," said Williams.  "They tried to stop them and they pulled a gun on them."

Police say Richard Olden and Shenesha Jones are the suspects in that robbery.  They say they sent the paperwork to the courthouse asking for warrants for the two on July 28, 2017.

Sergeant Brandon Watkins says, "we're looking at months and months and months are passing and we're not seeing these warrants issued and we don't know why."

Watkins says a 15-year-old did a carjacking then got into a police pursuit in October of last year.  Police sent the paperwork over on November 17th, but still no warrant.

Police say Orlando Allen is another case.  They suspect Allen of committing two robberies last year.  Police say they sent over the case for warrants on July 19, 2017, but still no warrants.

"The opportunity for tragedy there is amazing," said Watkins.  "There's no safe way to commit a robbery and somebody may well end up dead because of some sort of bureaucratic snafu."

Williams says she would also like to know what is taking so long, as she's been waiting nine months for an arrest.

Presiding judge Bill Musseman, when asked about this issue, said he checked with other judges and there are no warrants awaiting a judge's approval.

Musseman says he's working with the District Attorney's office to troubleshoot this matter and find out if there is some type of delay or snafu in the process after the warrants are getting signed.