McCurtain County Residents Sentenced For Assault And Firearms Offenses At Mountain Fork River

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that McCurtain County residents Anthony Juan Armenta, age 34, and Kevin Ray Ward, age 39, were sentenced for assault and firearms offenses.

On December 1, 2023, the federal court sentenced Armenta to 240 months in prison for one count of Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury in Indian Country, two counts of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon with Intent to do Bodily Harm in Indian Country, and one count of Use Carry, Brandish, and Discharge of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.

On June 2, 2023, the federal court sentenced Ward to 180 months in prison for one count of Assault Resulting in Serious Bodily Injury in Indian Country, two counts of Assault with Intent to do Bodily Harm in Indian Country, and one count of Use, Carry Brandish, and Discharge of a Firearm During and In Relation to a Crime of Violence.

The charges arose from investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office.

The trial for Armenta and Ward began on August 16, 2022, and concluded on Friday, August 19, 2022, with a federal jury finding Armenta and Ward guilty on all counts of the Indictment.  During the trial, the United States presented evidence that on May 24, 2020, Armenta and Ward confronted three individuals returning from fishing on the Mountain Fork River.  During the confrontation, Armenta and Ward beat one of the victims with a tire iron, and shot at all three of the victims, hitting one twice in the abdomen.

The crimes occurred in McCurtain County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Patrick R. Wyrick, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, sitting by assignment, presided over the sentencing hearings in Muskogee, Oklahoma.  Armenta is in the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons serving a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.  Ward 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 United States Attorneys Benjamin D. Traster and Nicole Paladino represented the United States.