MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Vince Harjo, age 36, of Glenpool, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 48 months imprisonment and lifetime supervised release for possessing sexually explicit material of a minor.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Lighthorse Police Department.

On September 11, 2023, Harjo pleaded guilty to an Information of one count of Possession of Certain Material Involving the Sexual Exploitation of a Child. According to investigators, on February 4, 2023, law enforcement officers responding to a call in Okmulgee, Oklahoma, discovered Harjo in possession of images on his cell phone which depicted the sexual exploitation of a child.

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 John F. Heil, III, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing. Harjo 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 Joshua Satter represented the United States.