UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL OKLAHOMA
TUESDAY
APRIL 25, 2000
The Student Voice Since 1903
RHA treasurer held on $2,000 bond By N. David Owens
Staff ricer
T
I do...
—Staff photo by Chieko Hara
Courtney Christenson, biology education, kneels on bended-knee as he proposes to Erin Tyree, elementary education, Friday night during the Greek Spring Sing in the UC Ballroom. She said "yes." The couple plans to many in May 2001.
he treasurer of the Residence Hall Association (RHA) has been arrested on a felony complaint filed by the Oklahoma County District Attorney's bogus check division. Brian Keith Rayburn, 28, of Murdaugh Hall, a first semester freshman majoring in food management and nutrition didactic program in dietetics, was arrested April 12 at 10:30 p.m. in the lobby of Murdaugh Hall. Rayburn plead not guilty to the charge of "obtaining money or property by means of a false and bogus check," according to the case file. Rayburn allegedly wrote a $78.95 check to Crest Foods #1 in August of 1999, drawn on an account through Bank of America that no longer existed, according to the case file. A Bank of America worker, who declined to give her name, said when the check was written, "the account (was) closed for not quite a year yet, but a very long time." Rayburn was arrested by officer John Blair of the UCO police department when he found out that an arrest warrant had been issued. "I found Mr. Rayburn in the lobby watching TV," Blair said in his report. "As I walked by him he got up and headed towards the ladies' side of the dorm. I called to him twice before he decided to stop." "I asked him...if he had ever been in trouble with the law before...he told me a check problem," Blair said. "In my vehicle (I) let Mr. Rayburn read the Brian Keith Rayburn warrant. He did not say anything, he just sat back in the seat," Blair said. Rayburn is currently in the Oklahoma County detention facility, said Capt. Barrow of the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office. Mike Lapuzza, director of the Oklahoma County District Attorney's office bogus check division, would only say he requested the arrest warrant to be issued March 22. "Other than that, we cannot comment on specific cases, due to the accused's right to be presumed innocent," Lapuzza said. When asked if felony charges were often filed for bogus checks, Lapuzza said, "(We have) more than a couple hundred a year." Retha Chamberlain, Judge Russell Hall's clerk, said Hall arraigned Rayburn with a $2,000 bond and set his trial date for 9 a.m. on May 3 with Judge David Harbor. This will be Rayburn's third trial in Oklahoma County. Rayburn was sued by Park Ridge Apartments in 1999 for not paying rent and bouncing checks, according to Oklahoma County court records.
• See FELONY, Page 2