Stillwell Resident Sentenced For Sexual Abuse In Indian Country

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Joseph Gene Christie, age 18, of Stilwell, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 87 months in prison for one count of Sexual Abuse in Indian Country. Christie will have to register and comply with the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act upon release.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Cherokee Nation Marshal Service, the Cherokee Nation Lighthorse Police, the Stilwell Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On January 5, 2024, Christie was charged in a single-count Felony Information of Sexual Abuse in Indian Country. On January 18, 2024, Christie pleaded guilty to the charge. According to investigators, on March 6, 2023, Christie sexually assaulted an individual at a Stilwell residence. The crime occurred in Adair County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable John C. Coughenour, Senior U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Christie 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 U.S. Attorneys Nicole Paladino and Benjamin D. Traster represented the United States.