Muskogee Resident Convicted Of Aggravated Sexual Abuse

 MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, announced today that Russell Garvis Griffith Jr., age 47, of Muskogee, Oklahoma was found guilty by a federal jury of Aggravated Sexual Abuse in Indian Country, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1151, 1153, 2241(c), and 2246(2)(C); Sexual Abuse of a Minor in Indian Country, in violation of Title 18, United States Code Sections 1151, 1153, 2243(a), and 2246(2)(A); and Sexual Abuse in Indian Country, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1151, 1153, 2242(1), and 2246(2)(A). The jury trial began with testimony on Monday, July 26, 2021 and concluded on Wednesday, July 28, 2021 with the guilty verdicts. The defendant is facing imprisonment for not less than 30 years to life for the crimes the jury found he committed.

During the trial, the United States presented evidence the defendant sexually abused his stepdaughter repeatedly and continuously for approximately fourteen years, beginning when she was nine years old.  The victim testified she often objected to the abuse but was physically and emotionally abused by the defendant in response.  In addition, the victim testified the defendant exercised near complete control over her life, forcing her to drop out of school as a teenager, preventing her from spending time alone with friends or other family members, and requiring her to live in a rented house across the street from his own after she became an adult so he could monitor her activities.  Despite the victim telling her mother and others about the defendant’s abuse over the years, she was not believed, and the abuse continued.  When she was twenty-two years old, the defendant forcibly raped the victim in her home, which resulted in her becoming pregnant.  Approximately one week after the birth of defendant’s child, with the help of a supportive relative, the victim fled the defendant’s home with her newborn baby in the middle of the night and reported the abuse to law enforcement.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma ultimately prosecuted the case because the defendant is a member of a federally-recognized Indian tribe and the crime occurred in Muskogee County, within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and within the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The guilty verdicts were the result of an investigation by the Muskogee Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma in Muskogee, presided over the trial and ordered the completion of a presentence report. Sentencing will be scheduled following completion of the report. Griffith was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal pending the imposition of sentencing.

Assistant United States Attorney Morgan Muzljakovich and Assistant United States Attorney Michael Cooper represented the United States.