Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Tahlequah Resident Pleads Guilty to Possession of Firearm with Obliterated Serial Number
MUSKOGEE, Okla. — The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Billy Lee Murphy, age 76, of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, entered a guilty plea to one count of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
The indictment alleged that on January 19, 2023, Murphy knowingly possessed a revolver that had been shipped and transported in interstate commerce, from which the manufacturer’s serial number had been removed, altered and obliterated.
The charges arose from an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The Honorable D. Edward Snow, Magistrate Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report. Murphy was allowed to remain on bond pending sentencing.
Assistant United States Attorney Edith A. Singer represented the United States.
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