Alert Oologah Community Helps Teen Reunite With Stolen Go-Kart

When a 15-year-old’s Go-Kart was stolen out of the driveway, he never expected to see it again.

But, thanks to an alert Oologah community, he’s back behind the wheel.

Dawson Cooper’s Go-Kart disappeared last Friday just before 2:00 p.m. His mom, Tiffany, was home at the time when she heard a car pull into her driveway.

"I heard the dogs barking and I thought my husband was home early, so I didn't think anything about it," she said.

When nobody came inside, she went to the front door to see who it was.

"When I looked out the window, I saw the truck pulling out of the driveway with my son's Go-Kart in the back of it," she said.

"I should have put it in the garage like I normally do, but I left it out that night," Dawson said. "But taking it from a kid, that's like really messed up."

Tiffany also saw a stolen air compressor in the bed of the truck, stolen from the house where surveillance photos were taken the same day.

On top of reporting it to police, Tiffany started posting all over Facebook about the theft - and her community came through.

"With the community being so small, within probably an hour, the post that I posted had been shared over 180 times," she said. "I feel like if it wasn't for Facebook, we would not have the Go-Kart."

A Rogers County investigator arrested the suspect, Carl Payne, on Wednesday when they went to an auto shop to look for the air compressor; when he got there, a truck matching the suspect's pulled into the same shop.

The investigator pulled the maroon truck over and identified the man as Payne.

Prosecutors charged him with grand larceny.