Former Savanna officer federally indicted

Derrick James, McAlester News-Capital, Okla.
·2 min read
1

Aug. 14—A former officer with the Savanna Police Department was indicted Friday by a federal grand jury after prosecutors say he sexually assaulted a victim during a November 2022 traffic stop.

Court documents show Jeffrey Scott Smith Jr., was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Oklahoma on felony counts of deprivation of rights under color of law and two counts of falsification of records.

Smith was scheduled for arraignment Monday at the federal courthouse in Muskogee. Records show Smith was taken into custody by federal agents in McAlester on Aug. 11.

The indictment accuses Smith of conducting a traffic stop on Nov. 2, 2022, in which the victim was a passenger.

According to allegations in the indictment, Smith sexually assaulted the victim "without her consent and without a legitimate law enforcement purpose."

"The defendant's conduct resulted in bodily injury," the indictment states.

Smith is also accused of deactivating his body worn camera and a dashboard camera during the traffic stop "with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence an investigation into his sexual misconduct."

If convicted, Smith faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison on the deprivation of rights count and 20 years in prison on each of the obstruction of justice counts.

Savanna Police Chief Matt Hines said Smith was immediately placed on administrative leave after the woman came forward with the allegations and was terminated from the department "within a day" for violating department policy.

A request for the videos and incident reports under the Oklahoma Open Records Act was made Monday by the News-Capital to the Savanna Police Department.

The FBI's Oklahoma City field office continues to investigate the case, with assistance from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Pittsburg County Sheriff's Office.

Trial Attorney Laura Gilson of the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division's Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Compton for the Eastern District of Oklahoma are prosecuting the case for the federal government.