Man Steals Stepdaughter's Items, Charged With Burglary

Mark Duane Matthews

A Gore man was arrested Aug. 2 and charged with second-degree burglary, court records reveal.

Mark Duane Matthews, 54, faces up to seven years in prison on the felony count.

At 10 p.m. on July 29, a Sequoyah County sheriff’s deputy was dispatched to a Sallisaw residence in reference to a burglary. When the deputy arrived at the scene he made contact with Anna Sinyard and Justin Sayre. Sinyard said both her back doors had been kicked in and was unsure if anyone was still inside.

The deputy cleared the residence and did not locate anyone else inside. The deputy could tell the northwest door of the house had been broken by a large rock that was lying inside the door. The residence was ransacked. The door on the southwest side of the house had also been broken in, and on a pool table the deputy discovered a note reading “b**** you don’t want me to come back,” as well as a note on the wall that included a phone number and “you need to call me.” Sinyard confirmed that the number on the note belonged to Matthews.

Sinyard told the deputy that her boyfriend, Sayre, had received a voicemail from her stepfather, Matthews, saying that he had all of her clothes and was going to burn them. Sinyard said she thought Matthews was just blowing off steam until she returned home around 10 p.m. and saw that her doors had been kicked in. She said a large amount of her clothing had been taken from a closet in the southwest room of the house and everything from the refrigerator had been thrown across the room. The deputy also saw items of clothing on hangers outside the front door, which appeared to have been dropped while carrying the items outside.

Sinyard said she had an unknown number of shoes, shirts, jackets and accessories valued at $5,700 and a Serta mattress that had been taken from the home.

Sinyard said she thought Matthews may have been across the street, so a pair of deputies went to that home and discovered a pile of clothes on hangers outside the residence. Sinyard was asked to come to the residence to identify the property and she said the clothes were hers but it wasn’t all of them and all of her jeans were gone. She then retrieved her property and left the scene.

Two deputies then went to Matthews’ residence to question him about the incident. When asked what happened between him and Sinyard, Matthews said he wanted his truck, which she had taken, back. He admitted taking Sinyard’s clothing. Matthews said he got into Sinyard’s residence “the same way she got into mine.”

Matthews eventually let police retrieve the rest of the stolen property from inside his home and when asked why he left notes in the residence and he stated that “I was p***** about her taking my vehicle.”

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

For more news stories stay tuned to The MIX 105.1 or visit www.kxmx.com