Hugo Resident Sentenced For Sexual Abuse Of A Minor

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Hunter Lee Wallace, age 21, of Hugo, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 24 months in prison for one count of Sexual Abuse of a Minor in Indian Country.

The charges arose from investigations by the Choctaw Nation Lighthorse Tribal Police, the Hugo Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On April 11, 2023, Wallace entered a guilty plea to the sexual abuse of a minor in Indian country.  According to investigators, on September 12, 2022, Wallace sexually abused a minor he had previously met and conversed with on Snapchat, despite knowing the victim’s true age.  The crime occurred in Choctaw County, within the boundaries of the Choctaw Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable John F. Heil, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Wallace was remanded into 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 Morgan Muzljakovich represented the United States.

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.  For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources”.

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.