Tahlequah Man Sentenced To 41 Months For Racketeering

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, announced that  JOSHUA ALLEN BARNETT, age 24, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma was sentenced to 41 months imprisonment and 3 years Supervised Release for Interstate Travel or Transportation in Aid of Racketeering Enterprises, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1952(a)(3) and 2.

The charge is a result of an investigation by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and was coordinated by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) of the Eastern District of Oklahoma.  OCDETF is an initiative led, and coordinated by, the Office of the United States Attorney.  The defendant was indicted in July, 2014 and pled guilty in December, 2014.

The Indictment alleged that on or about January 29, 2013, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma and elsewhere, the defendant, traveled in interstate commerce from the State of Oklahoma to Bella Vista, Arkansas, and attempted to purchase Oxycodone from Cornerstone Pharmacy with a false prescription with the intent to promote, manage, establish, carry on and facilitate the promotion, management, establishment and carrying on of an unlawful activity, that is, a business enterprise involving narcotics or controlled substances in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 846, 841(a)(1), and 841(b)(1)(C), and thereafter performed or attempted to perform an act to promote, manage, establish and carry on, and to facilitate the promotion, management, establishment and carrying on, of such unlawful activity.

The Honorable James H. Payne, District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, presided over the hearing.  The defendant will remain in the custody of the United States Marshal Service pending transportation to the designated federal prison at which he will serve his nonparolable sentence.

Assistant United States Attorney Shannon Henson represented the United States.