Stilwell Resident Sentenced For Arson

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Aaron Welch Earley, age 42, of Stilwell, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for one count of Arson in Indian Country. The Court also ordered Earley pay restitution in the amount of $130,268.91.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Adair County Sheriff's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On March 28, 2024, Earley pleaded guilty to the charge. According to investigators, on March 14, 2023, Earley willfully and maliciously set fire to an insured Westville, Oklahoma, residence for financial benefit. The total reported loss exceeded $100,000.

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

The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing. Earley will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Gross represented the United States.