County resident receives 7-year sentence for sex crimes

Oct. 3—A Pontotoc County resident was sentenced Wednesday to serve a little more than seven years in a federal prison after he was found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor.

Nathan Dale Smith, 33, was sentenced to 87 months in prison for one count of "sexual abuse of a minor in Indian Country" and 24 months in prison for one count of "abusive sexual contact in Indian Country."

However, the sentences were ordered to run concurrently (together).

On Monday, Smith's attorney — Warren Gotcher of McAlester — filed a notice of "intent to appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit from the judgment and sentence" handed down Wednesday.

The charges arose from investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Ada Police Department.

Smith was found guilty Sept. 9, 2022, by a federal jury. According to Christopher J. Wilson, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, during the trial, the government presented evidence that Smith sexually abused a female child under the age of 16 over the course of two years. Once the abuse was disclosed, Smith reportedly sent an incriminating text message to the victim's mother apologizing for his actions, according to Wilson.

"I commend the Ada Police Department and the FBI for their cooperative work in investigating this case," Wilson said. "Their efforts allowed Assistant United States Attorneys from our Special Victims Unit to obtain a measure of justice for the victim."

The crimes occurred in Pontotoc County, Wilson said.

Ronald A. White, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearings in Muskogee. Smith will remain in 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, Wilson said.

Assistant United States Attorneys Morgan Muzljakovich and Nicole Paladino represented the United States.