The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma has announced that Jerry Wayne Asbill Jr., age 42, of Adair County, was found guilty by a federal jury of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse in Indian Country.
The jury trial began with testimony on Monday, May 8, 2023, and concluded Wednesday, May 10, 2023, with the guilty verdicts.
During the trial, the United States presented evidence that the defendant took a child to a hotel and molested the child there in November 2018. The government was able to corroborate the hotel stay through various records.
The guilty verdicts were the result of investigations by the Adair County Sheriff’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma prosecuted the case because the defendant is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and the crimes occurred in Adair County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation reservation of Oklahoma and the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims.
The Honorable Kea W. Riggs, U.S. district judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, sitting by assignment in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the trial in Muskogee and ordered the completion of a presentence report. The sentencing will be scheduled following completion of the report.
The defendant was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal and will remain in custody until the sentencing hearing.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Morgan Muzljakovich and Nicole Paladino represented the United States.
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