Department of Justice
For Immediate Release
Texas Resident Sentenced for Federal Firearms Crime
MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Shawn Lee Karr, age 37, of Howe, Texas, was sentenced for possession of stolen firearms. Karr was sentenced to twelve months and one day in prison for one count of Possession of Stolen Firearms, in violation of 18 U.S.C.§ 922(j).
The charges arose from investigations by the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), the General Services Administration – Office of Inspector General, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with assistance from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
On August 17, 2022, Karr pleaded guilty to Possession of Stolen Firearms. According to investigators, between 2018 and 2019, Karr pawned his department-issued firearms while employed as a police officer for Oklahoma police departments in Bennington, Bokchito, and Boswell. The firearms were federally issued weapons on loan from the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency’s Law Enforcement Support Office and from the General Services Administration’s Federal Surplus Personal Property Donation Program. Karr pawned the federally owned firearms at a Calera, Oklahoma, pawn shop.
“The DoD Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and our partners are committed to safeguarding sensitive property from the Defense Logistics Agency’s Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO), which works with qualifying law enforcement agencies to facilitate the transfer of excess DoD property under strict program guidelines,” said Gregory P. Shilling, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the DCIS’ Southwest Field Office. “Today’s sentencing highlights the very real consequences for those holding a position of trust and choose to compromise the LESO program for personal gain.”
“GSA’s Federal Surplus Personal Property Donation Program provides local government, non-profit, and educational organizations access to property the federal government no longer needs,” said GSA OIG Special Agent in Charge Jamie Willemin of the Southwest and Rocky Mountain Investigations Division. “GSA OIG and our investigative partners will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who exploit such programs for personal financial gain.”
“Protecting federal property from waste, fraud, and abuse is a priority of the Department of Justice,” said United States Attorney Christopher J. Wilson. “The defendant had no right to pawn the firearms he was issued as part of his employment as a law enforcement officer, and he is now facing the consequences for his actions.”
The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearings in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Karr will self-report on November 30, 2023, to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.
Assistant United States Attorney Kara Traster represented the United States.