Texas Resident Sentenced To Five Years For Arson, Assaults, And Animal Cruelty

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Raymond David Phillips, age 32, of Lindale, Texas, was sentenced to 70 months in prison for one count of Arson, 41 months for one count of Animal Crushing in Indian Country, and 6 months on two misdemeanor counts of Assault in Indian Country.  The sentences will run concurrently.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Grand River Dam Authority.

On May 22, 2023, Phillips pleaded guilty to the charges.  On September 3, 2022, Phillips and his girlfriend were vacationing at a resort area along the Illinois River when his girlfriend was arrested.  Angered by the arrest, Phillips decapitated the resort owner’s cat, then began burning other guests’ camping equipment.  Law enforcement arrested Phillips at the Cherokee County Detention Center, where he had arrived to bail out his girlfriend.  After being taken into custody, Phillips threatened and assaulted jail and law enforcement officers.

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

The Honorable John F. Heil, III, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Phillips will remain in 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 Attorney Kevin Gross represented the United States.