Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Adair County Resident Sentenced for Discharging Firearm During Violent Crime
MUSKOGEE, Okla. – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Kaleb Thomas Linville, age 24, of Stilwell, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 120 months in prison for one count of Using, Carrying, Brandishing, and Discharging a Firearm During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence.
The charge arose from an investigation by the Adair County Sheriff’s Office, the Cherokee Nation Marshal’s Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
On May 10, 2022, Linville pleaded guilty to brandishing and discharging a firearm during a robbery. According to investigators, Linville robbed an area fisherman in the early hours of March 4, 2022. During the robbery, Linville brandished a semi-automatic rifle at the fisherman, ordered him into the water, fired a round, struck him with the rifle butt, stole his phone, wallet, and car keys, then drove off in the victim's car.
The crime occurred in Adair County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
“You wake up bright and early to go fishing and meet the likes of Mr. Linville; it’s not the big fish story anyone should have to tell. Mr. Linville’s behavior was violent and aggressive; two adjectives that don’t go well with firearm possession. Because of his thoughtless actions, he gets to spend 10 years in federal prison,” stated ATF Dallas Field Division Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey C. Boshek II. “I would like to thank our partners at Adair County Sheriff’s Office, Cherokee Nation Marshal’s Service, and the United States Attorney’s Office for helping to put a stop to Mr. Linville’s violence.”
“This office is committed to vigorously prosecuting those who disrupt the safety and security of our communities, especially when defendants use firearms to perpetrate their crimes,” said United States Attorney Christopher J. Wilson.
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 in Muskogee. Linville will remain in 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 Kevin Gross represented the United States at sentencing.
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