Tahlequah Resident Sentenced For Arson Attempt

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Sheena Grasshopper, age 41, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for one count of Attempted Arson of a Dwelling in Indian Country.

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

On January 14, 2025, Grasshopper pleaded guilty to the charge.  According to investigators, on July 31, 2023, Grasshopper attempted to set fire to a Tahlequah home and placed the occupant’s life in jeopardy.  The crime occurred in Cherokee County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Eric F. Melgren, Chief U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing.  Grasshopper 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. Attorneys Patrick M. Flanigan and Edith A. Singer represented the United States.