Beckham County, OK – An abandoned U-Haul with its hood up along a Beckham County road led sheriff’s deputies to a much larger investigation involving an alleged burglary, stolen property, a stolen vehicle and a firearm.

Beckham County Sheriff Derek Manning said deputies were initially dispatched to check the U-Haul because the circumstances surrounding the abandoned vehicle appeared unusual.

“There was a U-Haul that was called in that was abandoned with the hood up out on just off of a county road, which is a little bit of unusual circumstance, and so my deputies went to check it out,” Manning said.

While deputies were investigating, U-Haul reported that the vehicle had not been returned on time and the company had been unable to contact the renter. Manning said a man later approached deputies at the scene and claimed he had rented the vehicle and that some of the property inside belonged to him.

The investigation eventually involved three people at the scene.

At about the same time, an electric company received an alert involving a nearby property that Manning described as a grow house that was not operating but remained occupied. Utility workers investigating the alert discovered that a gate lock had been cut, the electrical meter had been pulled and there appeared to be other signs of tampering.

The property owners were out of state at the time.

As deputies continued investigating, Manning said they determined the incidents were connected. Three people were arrested on allegations that included tampering with utility equipment, second-degree burglary and possession of stolen property.

Investigators also discovered that a vehicle had been stolen from the residence, along with a firearm and other property.

Because the homeowner was out of state, deputies used a video call to walk through the residence with the owner, allowing him to identify items that appeared to be missing.

Investigators also obtained surveillance footage from the property. Although the cameras were not operating after power was cut, Manning said the owner was able to retrieve earlier footage that allegedly showed the suspects at the residence.

“We've got video evidence of them being at the residence. We've got things left in the vehicle that identify back to those folks. We've just got a lot of evidence,” Manning said.

According to Manning, investigators later interviewed the suspects as well as another person who was not at the scene when the arrests occurred. Manning said investigators obtained confessions and recovered most of the missing property.

The firearm was also recovered after investigators learned it had allegedly been discarded some distance from the scene when those involved noticed law enforcement investigating the U-Haul.

Manning said investigators also learned that a drone had allegedly been used to scout the property in connection with the burglary. The drone had not been recovered as of his latest update.

What began as a report of an abandoned rental truck ultimately developed into a much broader investigation.

“My detectives did an outstanding job pulling all that together,” Manning said. “All started from an abandoned vehicle, and my detectives were remaining aware to the calls and kind of what was going on and starting to put things together. So just a good job by those guys and making all that happen and doing solid police work.”

The allegations against those arrested are accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

Copyright 2026 Paragon Communications. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.