Tahlequah Resident Sentenced For Arson

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Wesley Wayne Sutton, age 60, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 30 months in prison for one count of Arson in Indian Country.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Tahlequah Fire Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On October 23, 2024, Sutton pleaded guilty to the charge.  According to investigators, on July 1, 2024, Sutton approached a Tahlequah residence, broke one window, attempted to break a second, then used gasoline to ignite the front door of the dwelling before entering the building and assaulting a resident.  The crime occurred in Cherokee County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee 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. Sutton 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.