Heavener Resident Sentenced For Violent Assault With A Firearm In Indian Country

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Francisco Perez, age 30, of Heavener, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 120 months in prison for Use, Carry, Brandish and Discharge of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.

The charges arose from investigations by the Heavener Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On May 16, 2023, Francisco Perez pleaded guilty to one count of Use, Carry, Brandish and Discharge of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.

On June 16, 2021, Perez shot a person in Heavener with a semi-automatic pistol.  The victim sustained serious but non-fatal injuries.  Perez then drove to the Heavener Police Station, turned himself in, and confessed to the shooting.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma prosecuted these cases because the defendant is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and the crimes occurred in Le Flore County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation and the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Charles B. Goodwin, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, sitting by appointment, presided over the hearings in Oklahoma City.  Perez will remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Howanitz represented the United States at sentencing.