Tahlequah Resident Sentenced For Federal Firearm Charge

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Richard Dale Lea, age 43, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 37 months for illegally possessing a firearm.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Tahlequah Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On February 14, 2024, Lea pleaded guilty to one count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm. According to investigators, on April 9, 2023, Lea was found in possession of two loaded semi-automatic pistols during the search of a vehicle by Tahlequah Police. At the time of the investigation, Lea had previously been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The Honorable John C. Coughenour, 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. Lea 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 Attorney Jonathan E. Soverly represented the United States.