Mayes County Resident Sentenced For Federal Firearm Offense

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Jacob Aaron Ward, age 43, of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 36 months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition.

The charges arose from investigations by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On May 11, 2023, Ward pleaded guilty to one count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition.  According to court documents, a Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office deputy found Ward in possession of a loaded .38 Special revolver during a traffic stop in August of 2022.  The deputy located the revolver in Ward’s back pocket while conducting a pat-down.  Ward knew when he possessed the firearm that he had been previously convicted of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year.

The Honorable Keith Starrett, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing in Muskogee.  Ward 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 Attorney Rachel Geizura represented the United States.