McAlester Resident Sentenced For Child Abuse In Indian Country

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Paula Amber Chisholm, age 38, of McAlester, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 48 months in prison for Child Abuse in Indian Country.

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

On January 12, 2023, Chisholm was found guilty by a federal jury of one count of Child Abuse in Indian Country.  According to investigators, on December 3, 2019, a five-year-old child was rushed to the hospital after school officials became concerned about the child’s physical state and demeanor. During a medical evaluation it was revealed the child had multiple wounds, abrasions, and bruises and was extremely malnourished. Chisholm was the primary caregiver at the time the abuse occurred.  The crime occurred in Pittsburg County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Chisholm was remanded to the 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 Morgan Muzljakovich represented the United States.