Calera Resident Sentenced To 25 Years For Child Exploitation Crimes

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Ryan John Capps, age 25, of Calera, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 300 months in prison for one count of Coercion and Enticement, and 300 months in prison for one count of Sexual Exploitation of a Child/Use of a Child to Produce a Visual Depiction. Capps was also sentenced to 180 months in prison for one count of Sexual Abuse of a Minor in Indian Country. The sentences were ordered to be served concurrently.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Durant Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On May 1, 2024, Capps was found guilty of the charges by a federal jury. According to investigators, in the autumn of 2022, while employed as a teacher and coach at Durant Middle School, Capps enticed a minor student to produce child sexual abuse material and engage in sexual activity. The crimes occurred in Bryan County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation of Oklahoma, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

"This defendant abused his position of trust as a teacher and coach by sexually exploiting a student he was supposed to protect," said FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Doug Goodwater. "I'm grateful for the dedicated efforts of the FBI, the Durant Police Department, and the US Attorney's Office to remove this predator from the lives of innocent children through the justice system."

"The defendant violated the trust placed in him as a teacher in order to exploit the victim for his own prurient interests," said United States Attorney Christopher J. Wilson. "The jury's verdict and the sentences imposed by the Court are a resounding message that those who commit these deplorable acts will be subjected to the justice system and severely punished."

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

We encourage anyone who suspects or has information regarding child sexual exploitation, trafficking of minors, sextortion, child pornography, or any other means of child exploitation to immediately contact law enforcement. You can file a report on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC)'s website at www.cybertipline.com, call 1-800-843-5678, contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), or call 877-4-HSI TIP.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing in Muskogee. Capps 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 Jessie K. Pippin and Jessica Bove represented the United States.