STILLWATER — A Jennings man with a history of drug convictions in Creek and Pawnee counties has been ordered to appear before a Payne County judge on Sept. 30 on a felony fraud charge accusing him of representing himself as his brother by using his name when he was stopped for a traffic violation at Highway 18 and 56 in Yale on Feb. 23, 2022.
Matthew Kelly Tull, 46, who had been sought on a Payne County felony warrant for more than three years, was arrested on July 28 and released on $5,000 bond pending his arraignment in September with an attorney, court records show.
If convicted of fraudulently obtaining the personal identity of another person to avoid a traffic ticket for speeding, Tull could face as much as a 10-year prison term.
Tull’s brother, who has a CDL and drives trucks for a living, said “this is the second time he is aware of Matthew using (his) identity during a traffic stop,” Payne County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Cooper alleged in an affidavit filed with the 2022 fraud charge.
Tull’s brother “believes Matthew is using (his) identification during interactions with law enforcement due to a warrant Matthew has out of Pawnee County” for failure to pay costs in a drug possession case, the affidavit alleged.
Tull’s brother said he “is afraid he will be stopped by DOT for a weight check and will be arrested on a warrant that he is not aware of, due to Matthew using (his) identity fraudulently. He also mentioned with the accruing points on his driver license, it is causing his insurance rates to increase,” the affidavit alleged.
The Payne County sheriff’s deputy alleged in his affidavit that he obtained an audio recording of a phone conversation between the brothers regarding the Feb. 23 traffic stop and a missing license plate.
In the conversation, Tull’s brother “confronted Matthew about using (his) name during a traffic stop. Matthew admitted he was responsible for the citation that had been issued under (his brother’s) name,” the affidavit alleged. According to the state Department of Corrections, Matthew Tull had been released from prison in 2020 after serving four months of a oneyear sentence from Creek County after his probation for possessing methamphetamine in Oilton in 2013 was revoked in 2019. Matthew Tull had also been convicted in 2016 of drug possession in 2013 and 2016 in Pawnee County, as well as being a convicted felon with a gun and carrying contraband into jail in 2016 in Pawnee County, DOC records show.