Skiatook: Citizen's Arrest: Couple are accused of kidnapping
Tulsa World
5/31/2006
SKIATOOK -- A Skiatook couple who reportedly tried to take a bite out of crime during the weekend are now in the doghouse on kidnapping complaints.
Taking a cue from the television show "Dog the Bounty Hunter," authorities said, Linda Hardin and Scott A. Tibbits forcibly abducted a teenager they suspected of hiding stolen goods at their home and were going to take him to the police in their van.
Officer Shane Thompson, who arrested the couple Sunday, said Hardin "thought it was OK because she watches 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' all the time, and he does it, so she thought they could do it."
Hardin, 37, and Tibbits, 34, are being held in the Tulsa Jail awaiting a June 6 court appearance on felony complaints of kidnapping, along with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Thompson said the couple's 15-year-old son was in the van with them.
Bail has been set at $50,000 each for Hardin and Tibbits on the kidnapping complaints, along with an added $500 each on complaints of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Thompson said police were alerted to the kidnapping when they received a call Sunday afternoon that someone was being abducted at the corner of Maple and C streets. A description of the van involved
also was given.
The officer said he put on his emergency lights and stopped the van as it pulled into the Police Department.
When he looked inside the vehicle, Thompson said he saw the abducted teenager, looking scared and shaken, lying on the floorboard, with a weapon called a blackjack next to him.
Thompson said the victim, whom he described as either 15 or 16, told him that Hardin and Tibbits forced him into the van and held him there, threatening to use the blackjack on him if he yelled.
The officer said the teenager lives a mile from the couple's home and was on foot when he was taken about four blocks from where they live.
Thompson said the couple reportedly told the boy that a neighbor's home had been burglarized the night before and that some of the stolen property showed up at their home Sunday.
They said their son told them that another teenager had put it there, so they went looking for him to make a "citizen's arrest," Thompson said.
He said the abducted teen is not a suspect in any burglary.
Thompson said the couple recently moved to Skiatook from Kansas, where they both have prison records.
Throughout their arrests, Hardin and Tibbits kept insisting that they were in the right to make a citizen's arrest -- that they've seen it done all the time on television police shows.
"Their favorite shows, they said, are 'Dog the Bounty Hunter' and 'Cops,' " Thompson said.
"When I heard that, all I could say in mind was, 'Oh, my goodness,' " he said Tuesday.
Thompson, who has worked for the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office and has been a Skiatook officer for two years, cautioned anyone against making a citizen's arrest.
He said that if anyone sees or suspects criminal activity, they should call the police, instead.
"Dog the Bounty Hunter" is a reality television show on the Arts and Entertainment network.
It features Duane "Dog" Chapman and Beth, his wife, whom he married May 20, along with a few of his sons and others, as they stalk fugitives and haul them to justice -- all in front of a camera.
Dog Chapman owns one bail bonds company in Hawaii and three in Colorado.
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{g} The lovely, reality-TV watchin', crime-fightin' couple: {g}
