Wilbert Lamon Rivers, a 27-year-old resident of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma made the announcement.
The case was investigated by the Muscogee (Creek) Lighthorse Police Department, the Okmulgee Police Department, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Rivers pleaded guilty to the charge on November 4, 2024. According to investigators, on November 4, 2023, law enforcement found Rivers with forty rounds of ammunition and a semi-automatic pistol capable of accepting a large capacity magazine after he had been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison.
This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), which aims to reduce violent crime and gun violence through collaboration between law enforcement agencies and communities. On May 26, 2021, the department launched an enhanced strategy for PSN focusing on fostering trust within communities, supporting organizations that prevent violence before it occurs, setting strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring outcomes.
The sentencing hearing was presided over by U.S. District Judge John F. Heil III at the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Rivers will remain in custody with the U.S. Marshals Service until he is transported to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve his non-paroleable sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan E. Soverly represented the United States in this case.