Hughes County Resident Sentenced For Federal Firearm Offense

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Kent Matthew Stapp, age 34, of Wetumka, Oklahoma, was sentenced was sentenced to 60 months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm.

The charges arose from investigations by the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Lighthorse Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On March 13, 2023, a federal jury found Stapp guilty at trial of one count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm. According to court documents, on February 11, 2022, Okmulgee County Sheriff’s deputies discovered Stapp in possession of a 9mm semi-automatic pistol after Stapp attempted to flee during a traffic stop.  At trial, Stapp testified that he attempted to flee in order to prevent the discovery of the firearm on his person. The jury found that Stapp knew he had been previously convicted of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year while he was in possession of the firearm.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Stapp was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a sentence of incarceration.

Assistant United States Attorneys Rachel Geizura and Jarrod Leaman represented the United States at sentencing.