The incident was said to have happened when a white sub pulled up at a motel in Henryetta. A woman, later said to be Adina Poeriara asked the motel clerk to show her a room that she would be renting.
According to police chief Steve Norman, while the woman and clerk were going to the room, several people got out of the van and entered the office then broke down a door that led to the apartment used by motel owners.
The clerk and owners thwarted that plan and got into a scuffle with the would-be burglars.
“Everyone except Poeriara got back in the van and left. She was being held by the owners and turned over to police when we arrived,” Norman said. When police ran the tag number on the SUV it was said to be false.
The language barrier caused issues for police trying to investigate the incident. “She could speak a little Spanish,” the chief said. “We found out they came across the border in Texas and had been turned back by federal officials once before.
FBI agents came to Henryetta and used a portable fingerprint scanner to make the identification on the 21-year-old suspect.“During our interview, the telephone the woman had kept ringing but no one would answer,” the chief said.
Poeriara was booked into the Okmulgee County jail on a complaint of being an accessory to first degree burglary.
