Seminole Resident Sentenced For Involuntary Manslaughter

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Lucas Wayne Cullum, aka Lucus Wayne Cullum, age 26, of Seminole, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 84 months in prison for one count of Involuntary Manslaughter in Indian Country.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Seminole Nation Lighthorse Police Department, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On July 17, 2024, Cullum pleaded guilty to the charge.  According to investigators, on November 23, 2022, Cullum failed to devote attention to driving, causing the death of a passenger.  While driving at a high rate of speed, Cullum crossed the opposing lane of traffic on State Highway 59 and left the roadway. Cullum abruptly swerved the vehicle back to the right, crossed both lanes of traffic, exited the roadway, and struck a tree.  As Cullum fled the scene of the crash on foot, the car caught fire with two occupants inside.  One passenger was seriously injured but was able to escape the vehicle.  The other passenger was unable to escape and died from injuries sustained in the crash and the resulting fire.

The crime occurred in Seminole County, within the boundaries of the Seminole Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable John F. Heil, III, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Cullum 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.