Leaking Deep-Fryer Grease Leads Chickasha Police To Bungling Burglars

A couple of brazen burglars are caught red handed over the weekend. The pair made off with thousands of dollars' worth of stolen items but left behind a trail of evidence for police.

"I was just hoping it wasn't what it obviously looked like," Matthew Kennedy is not a detective but is pretty sure he helped solve the crime. "When I came out I noticed a trail of oil leading from that backdoor to my other neighbor's backdoor."

Kennedy said he was told by officers in the neighborhood that thieves had kicked in the backdoor at the house across the street from his. It happened in the 1000 block of W. Colorado Ave., early Saturday morning.

The thieves stole $3,995.00 worth of items including televisions, golf clubs, high priced electronics, fishing equipment, and a fry daddy.

"If you're going to steal a fry daddy you should probably pour the oil out before you drag it across the street," said Kennedy.

According to police reports, Steven McCarthey, 29, and his accomplice, William Bitsche, 40, didn't think to do that. Instead, the deep fryer leaked grease all the way back to their house in the 1100 block of Colorado Ave.

"Our officers went over and knocked on the door and made contact with the resident and he was kind of nervous about why we were there," said Lt. Scott Weaver.

Officers completed a search of the suspect's home and were able to recover the stolen items. Weaver says the suspects then allegedly confessed to the burglary.

"They were apologetic about everything, that they had done it, and knew it was wrong, and just wanted to make it right again," said Weaver.

McCarthey and Bitsche were booked into the Grady County Jail on complaints of Second-Degree Burglary and Concealing Stolen Property.

The victims are reportedly moving from the neighborhood.