Shawnee Man Charged with Abuse of 4-Year-Old Child in Indian Country

OKLAHOMA CITY—Justin L. Ellis, 26, from Shawnee, Oklahoma, has been indicted by a federal grand jury and charged with malicious injury of a 4-year-old child in on the federal lands held in trust for the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, announced Sanford C. Coats, United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

According to the indictment, on November 10, 2012, Ellis, a tribal member of the Kickapoo Tribe, repeatedly burned a 4-year-old child on the buttocks and legs with a lit cigarette on Kickapoo Tribal land in in Pottawatomie County. If convicted, Ellis faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and potentially a life sentence. In addition, Ellis faces an additional $250,000 fine and up to five years of supervised release upon his release from prison. The public is reminded that the indictment is merely an accusation and that the defendant is each presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Don. Gifford, II.