09/22/2025
Just a quick reminder to lock up your vehicle even on campus. Be sure to remove items of value and money from your vehicle on and off campus. If your vehicle has been broken into or you find that items have been taken, contact campus security at (620) 441-5599.
On September 14, 2025, at approximately 3:01 a.m., Arkansas City Police Department officers were dispatched to the 1200 block of North A Street after a report of a suspicious subject possibly looking into vehicles. Officers soon discovered that two vehicles in the area had been entered by an unknown subject, with items reported stolen from one of them. A victim was able to capture the suspect on surveillance video.
At 3:54 a.m., officers were dispatched again to the 1400 block of North B Street for another reported vehicle burglary. While canvassing the area, officers located a suspicious subject sitting inside a vehicle. The man was identified as 29-year-old Thomas Mitchell Pritchard of Ponca City, Oklahoma. Pritchard was found to be in possession of ma*****na and drug paraphernalia and was placed under arrest. During questioning, officers learned that Pritchard had dropped off a friend in the area, identified as 30-year-old Aaron Ashton Keith Holt, also of Ponca City, who was believed to be involved in the burglaries.
Officers continued searching and located Holt in the 1200 block of North B Street. Holt fled on foot, and officers briefly lost sight of him. A perimeter was established, and at approximately 6:52 a.m., Holt was spotted again in the 1400 block of North B Street. After another short pursuit, officers were able to apprehend him.
Through the course of the investigation, officers determined Holt had entered multiple vehicles in the area and stolen items from inside. Holt provided officers with a location where stolen property had been stashed. Several items were recovered at that location, including property that had not yet been reported stolen. Later in the day, officers confirmed that a vehicle in the 1200 block of North D Street also had been burglarized.
Holt was arrested and booked into the Cowley County Jail on four counts of burglary to a motor vehicle, three counts of theft, and one count of interference with law enforcement. He is being held on a $12,000 bond.
Pritchard was arrested and booked into the Cowley County Jail on charges of possession of ma*****na and possession of drug paraphernalia. His bond was set at $2,000.
The Arkansas City Police Department reminds residents to always lock their vehicles and remove valuables from plain sight.
