Woodward man sentenced to 161 months for gun possession, violence while detained

OKLAHOMA CITY – Scott Allen Jones, 32, of Woodward, Oklahoma, has been sentenced to 161 months in prison for possessing a firearm and ammunition after a felony conviction, as well as for assaults on detention officers while in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service, announced U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Downing.

According to an indictment filed on Sept. 5, 2018, Jones possessed a .40 caliber pistol and various kinds of ammunition on Aug. 21, 2018, after he had been convicted of a felony.  He was ordered detained pending trial in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Later that month, on Sept. 17, 2018, Jones assaulted three detention officers at the Logan County Jail, where he was being held pursuant to a contract with the Marshals Service.  As described in a separate indictment filed on July 17, 2019, he struck each officer in the head and thereby interfered with the performance of their official duties.  A probable cause affidavit filed in Logan County District Court states that Jones refused to cooperate with jailers and punched them with his fists before they were able to use a taser to subdue him.

On Dec. 18, 2018, a jury found Jones guilty on the count charging possession of a firearm and ammunition.  Jones pleaded guilty to all three assault counts on Aug. 22, 2019.

On Dec. 16, 2019, U.S. District Judge David L. Russell sentenced Jones to 10 years in prison on the firearm count, to be followed by three years of supervised release.  The court further sentenced Jones to 41 months in prison for the three assaults and ordered that sentence to run consecutively, that is, to be served after the 10-year firearm sentence.

This case is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation—Oklahoma City Field Office, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; U.S. Marshals Service; the Woodward County Sheriff’s Office; and the Logan County Sheriff’s Office.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicholas J. Patterson and Jacquelyn M. Hutzell prosecuted the case.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods and Project Guardian, the Department of Justice’s signature initiatives to reduce gun violence and enforce federal firearms laws.  For more information about Project Guardian, please see the Attorney General’s announcement here.