Renters Charged After Allegedly Destroying Property

A pair of Sallisaw residents face charges after allegedly destroying a house they were renting.

Marcos Bain, 30, and Athena Irene Fowler, 42, were charged with malicious injury to property (over $1,000) and grand larceny, both felonies. The injury to property charge is penalized by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for up to two years and a fine of up to $1,000 or both. Grand larceny is punishable by imprisonment for up to five years in the State Penitentiary and a fine of up to $1,000 or both.

On Oct. 1, a Sequoyah County Sheriff’s investigator met with a landlord who wanted to make a report of vandalism and destruction at her rental property in Sallisaw.

She said she rented the property to Bain and Fowler and had evicted them from the property, giving them until Sept. 30 to leave the residence.

When she returned to the home at 10 p.m. on Sept. 30, she discovered the house had been destroyed, with holes in the floor, a broken toilet and a yard full of trash. She also said she had a large safe inside the house filled with personal documents inside and a Dyno Vox that belonged to her autistic granddaughter and it was all missing. Locks on two storage buildings on the property had been cut off and replaced with new ones.

In a follow-up interview several days later, the landlord said that when she went to her property she noticed several items that were stolen and the whole house was damaged. She said Fowler was contacted and Fowler said she thought the items had been given to her so she would have to go look in the storage units to see where they might be. The landlord said she never heard back from Fowler or Bain.

***Fowler and Bain appeared in court on Feb. 10, 2021. All charges were dismissed.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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