OKLAHOMA CITY — Five men, including one from Duncan, were charged in separate and unrelated cases in federal court here last week as part of the Western District of Oklahoma’s “Operation 922” domestic violence initiative, Acting U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester announced.
Ryan Everett O’Neal, 29, of Duncan, was charged by complaint on April 6 with assault with a dangerous weapon in Indian Country, after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend with a knife. If convicted, O’Neal faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a fine of as much as $250,000.
O’Neal initially was charged in Stephens County District Court with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon after former conviction of a felony (AFCF). The incident occurred in Velma on March 25, 2020. Law enforcement officers reported the victim had apparent finger marks on her neck, a black eye, numerous bruises on her right arm from her shoulder to her wrist, a bite mark on her left shoulder, and a cut in her left hand.
The case was dismissed last month by District Judge Ken Graham, who cited the U.S. Supreme Court decision last July in McGirt vs Oklahoma, as a result of which any crime committed by or against a Native American in “Indian Country” must be prosecuted in a federal or tribal court.
O’Neal is a member of the Caddo Nation and his alleged offense occurred within the boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation, which the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled is governed by the provisions of McGirt.
Also dismissed last month was a charge filed in Stephens County District Court accusing O’Neal of damaging a window to cell F-3 while he was incarcerated in the county jail on April 19, 2020.
O’Neal previously was accused of stabbing a man with a knife “just below his left armpit” in December 2018. However, that Stephens County case, battery with a dangerous weapon AFCF, was dismissed in October 2019 “because of an uncooperative witness,” the prosecutor explained.
O’Neal’s criminal career began almost a decade ago. He pleaded guilty in Stephens County in 2011 to two counts of distribution of methamphetamine. He received two 10-year suspended sentences, to run concurrently, and was fined $1,500 on each charge and was ordered to pay court costs.
In 2015 O’Neal was charged in Stephens County with second-degree burglary AFCF. He pleaded guilty and received a 10-year prison sentence, but served just a little over three years, records reflect.
The Rush Springs Police Department arrested O’Neal in 2019 on a charge of auto theft, but the case was dismissed last year. No explanation why was provided in court documents.
The four other defendants who were indicted in federal court last week are from the metropolitan Oklahoma City area.
Nationally these prosecutions are part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction initiative. Through PSN, partnering law enforcement agencies identify the most pressing violent crime problems in communities and develop comprehensive solutions for lasting crime reductions.
“Operation 922” is the local implementation of the PSN initiative in the Western District of Oklahoma. Specifically, “Operation 922” focuses on domestic violence abusers who are found in possession of firearms or ammunition, Troester said.
The initiative stems from federal prosecutors’ use of Title 18, United States Code Section 922, in which Congress has prohibited the possession of firearms and ammunition by various categories of individuals, such as those who are prior convicted felons, are subject to a victim Protection Order, are previously convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, and are unlawfully using or addicted to controlled substances.
This is the third anniversary since “Operation 922” began in March 2018, Troester noted. During this period the U.S. Attorney’s Office in OKC has charged 149 defendants from 17 counties in domestic violence-derived cases. Of those cases, 127 defendants have already been convicted or entered guilty pleas. Of those convicted, 98 defendants have been sentenced to an average of 76.5 months, or more than six years, in federal prison. Also, 211 guns and 3,367 rounds of ammunition have been seized from the defendants.
Although the initiative targets domestic violence-derived cases, a closer review reflects that one-third of the “Operation 922” defendants charged are affiliated with one of 22 different gangs.
“Operation 922” is the result of a collaborative partnership with law enforcement and non-governmental entities in the Western District of Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma County District Attorney’s Office, Oklahoma City Police Department, United States Marshals Service, Palomar Family Justice Center, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives.