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Press Release

Spiro Resident Sentenced For Federal Firearm Crime

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Oklahoma

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced Christopher Joe Knight, age 43, of Spiro, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 80 months in prison for illegally possessing a firearm.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

On February 20, 2024, Knight pleaded guilty to one count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm.  According to investigators, on December 26, 2022, OHP troopers conducting a routine traffic stop in Leflore County discovered Knight in possession of a 9mm semiautomatic pistol.  Knight knowingly possessed the firearm after having been previously convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year imprisonment.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The Honorable Raúl Manuel Arias-Marxuach, Chief District Judge in the United States District Court for Puerto Rico, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing in Muskogee, Oklahoma.  Knight will remain in 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 U.S. Attorney Jonathan E. Soverly represented the United States.

Updated October 23, 2024

Topics
Project Safe Neighborhoods
Firearms Offenses