Muskogee Resident Sentenced For Attempted Arson In Indian Country

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Johnny Lee Vann, age 48, was sentenced to 83 months in prison for one count of Attempted Arson in Indian Country.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On July 1, 2025, Vann pleaded guilty to the charge. According to investigators, on January 4, 2025, Vann positioned a haybale beneath a neighbor’s trailer and ignited the bale.  One of the residents smelled smoke, chased Vann away, and removed and extinguished the bale.

The crime occurred in Muskogee County, within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Vann will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Gross represented the United States.