A Durant man has been hit with 11 counts of second-degree burglary and one count of knowingly concealing stolen property after authorities said he burglarized multiple storage units.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Benjamin Brent Ervin, 40. The charges follow completion of a Durant Police investigation into burglaries last year at Westside Storage in Durant.

An affidavit states that a man later identified as Ervin was shown on surveillance footage cutting locks to gain entry to storage units.

According to police, Ervin also rented a storage unit there, and police obtained a search warrant to search it. According to the affidavit, Ervin stored items stolen from other units in his storage unit.

The affidavit states that he confessed to the crimes and said he stole the items to obtain money to pay lawyer fees in an unrelated criminal case. He told officers that he sold stolen items at an auction in Wapanucka, plus to people in the Durant area.

In other crimes, a man police said was caught shoplifting was charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. Durant Police Patrolman Carter Mathews was dispatched last week to Walmart after an employee caught a man trying to steal a flashlight.

An affidavit states that a man later identified as James Elliott Horton, 36, Mead, was detained after he tried to leave the store with a flashlight he had put in his pocket.

Horton, according to the affidavit, had been observed adjusting his sock and shoe multiple times while in Walmart’s asset protection office.

Upon questioning by Mathews, Horton said there were several baggies of “ice” in his right sock, the affidavit states. Horton retrieved six baggies from his sock, and four of them contained a crystal-like substance that tested positive for methamphetamine.

According to the affidavit, Horton said the baggies were not his.