Muskogee County Resident Sentenced For Assault And Firearm Offenses In Indian Country

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Joseph Eugene Meyer, age 39, of Muskogee, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 156 months in prison for Assault with a Dangerous Weapon with Intent to Do Bodily Harm in Indian Country and Use, Carry, and Brandish of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.

The charges arose from investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Muskogee Police Department, and Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office.

Between December 7 and December 10, 2019, Meyer beat the victim with a revolver and other objects.  As a result of the assault, the victim suffered from a subdural hematoma, broken ribs, a collapsed lung, and other wounds, bruises, and contusions.

On November 2, 2021, Meyer pleaded guilty to one count of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon with Intent to Do Bodily Harm in Indian Country and one count of Use, Carry, and Brandish of a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma prosecuted this case because the victim is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and the crimes occurred within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation and the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearings in Muskogee, Oklahoma.  Meyer was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a sentence of incarceration.

Assistant United States Attorney Benjamin D. Traster represented the United States.