Published: March 17, 2009 12:43 pm      

Vehicle, architectural massacre in Fittstown

Fittstown — After a spree of hit and runs in Fittstown in the early morning hours of Thursday, March 5, a Florida man may be brought back to Oklahoma to face charges for the damage he caused.

Officer Kevin Wood was dispatched on Thursday morning to County Road 1655 and Highway 99 South, where he saw the first of the damage, which is estimated to be totaled in at more than $10,000, according to a report by the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office.

After damaging four vehicles, a trailer, a snowcone stand, a two-car garage, a metal building and the Fittstown Store, the suspect fled south, seemingly escaping.

Dark red paint was noted on the damage to the Fittstown Store and a California license plate was located in the parking lot, however, and the Sheriff’s Department used this evidence to locate a suspect in Orange Park, Florida.

The license plate was traced to a Budget Rental Car business at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. The vehicle in question had been rented by a James Sampson, 29, and had been reported wrecked.

“He hopped a plane and went back to Florida, and he was the one who returned the vehicle,” Pontotoc County Sheriff John Christian said. “So we will be asking for a warrant for his arrest to see if we can get him back here to take care of the damages.” Sampson has been to Fittstown before and—oddly enough—is no stranger to the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office.

“He apparently has some connections to this area, because he has been arrested here before,” Christian said. “We don’t know why he chose Fittstown to go through and see how much damage he could do.”