OKLAHOMA CITY– An Edmond resident who has a lengthy criminal record and was accused of committing a crime spree in January, including theft of an ATM, pleaded guilty May 22 to six felony charges.
Aaron Zachery Peterson, 52, pleaded guilty to malicious injury to property valued at $1,000 or more, grand larceny, possession of stolen property, engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses, and two counts of motor vehicle theft. The charges arose from the destruction and theft of the ATM atTinker Federal Credit Union’s location in south Oklahoma City.
Oklahoma County Special Judge Jason Glidewell sentenced Peterson to a collective total of 12 years in state prison.
Video from a security camera showed that on Jan. 16 a forklift rammed the ATM and knocked it off its concrete base, rammed its forks through the side of the machine, then hoisted the damaged device into a pickup that drove off; the operator of the forklift abandoned the vehicle.
One count of unauthorized use of a vehicle accused Peterson of stealing a 2002 Toyota on Jan. 11.
He was charged with grand larceny in the theft of a dirt bike, and with unauthorized use of a vehicle in the theft of a vehicle owned by Centennial Landscaping; both of those incidents occurred on Jan. 30.
A separate charge accused Peterson of malicious injury to property when he allegedly cut into an ATM at 10731 S. Western Ave. owned by First United Bank and Trust Co. of Norman. However, prosecutors dismissed that count in exchange for Peterson’s guilty plea to the six other charges.
He was arrested Feb. 15 by Oklahoma City and Edmond police and was jailed in Oklahoma County in lieu of $1 million bond, court records reflect.
Peterson’s criminal record extends back nearly three decades.
In 2016 he admitted being a one-man crime wave, Oklahoma State Courts Network records reflect. That year he was named in, and pleaded guilty to, 15 felony charges filed in Oklahoma County.
Those included attempted larceny of an automobile, grand larceny, possession of a controlled dangerous substance (three counts), possession of drug paraphernalia (two counts), second-degree burglary (four counts), possession of stolen property (three counts), and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was given a 10-year prison sentence, with all 15 counts to be served concurrently.
In addition, Peterson pleaded guilty in Okfuskee County in 1995 to a felony charge of escape from a penal institution.