Tulsa Police Say City Is Safer With 3 Serial Burglars Behind Bars

Tulsa Police's Riverside Division is celebrating the arrests of three men they call "serial burglars." In the past week, officers arrested Drew Davis, Jeffrey James, and Rex Tartar.

"We've nailed three large arrests that I think are really going to drive our numbers down," Sergeant Billy White said. "So I'm super stoked about that."

It started last Friday with the arrest of Drew Davis at a Tulsa hotel, and continued Wednesday when officers arrested Jeffrey James.

White said it culminated on Thursday when police picked up Rex Tartar, who police said is one of the top burglars in Tulsa.

"We've dealt with him for years, actually," White said. "We've tied him to numerous burglaries inside the city of Tulsa."

White said Tartar has served time for similar crimes in the past, but when he gets out of prison, he goes back to his same patterns, hitting homes and cars all over Tulsa.

"It's weird that there's a correlation sometimes when these guys get out of prison, and we see a spike in burglaries or some other type of crime they're known for," White said.

He said tracking those patterns and finding these criminals took hundreds of man hours, but it's all just part of the job.

"Just knowing that the citizens of Tulsa are going to sleep a little bit safer at night, and hopefully their car won't get broken into or their house won't get broken into for at least a little bit because of the work we did, really makes it worthwhile," White said.