Two with ties to Stephens County indicted by Federal Grand Jury

Charlene Belew, The Duncan Banner, Okla.
·2 min read

Apr. 21—A Federal Grand Jury in The United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma returned indictments for two separate cases related to Stephens County.

According to information received from the United States Department of Justice, the indictments included one for a Ratliff City man who was arrested in Stephens County in March 2020 and accused of child sexual abuse, and a second for a man who was accused of burglary in the first degree.

According to the indictment from the Federal Grand Jury, Lawrence Loftis Junior faces two counts of aggravated sexual abuse with a child under 12 years and one count of abusive sexual contact with a child under 12 years between 2018 and 2019.

The first two charges on a federal level carry penalties of no less than 30 years up to life imprisonment, a fine of no more than $250,000 or both. The third count could bring a penalty of imprisonment for up to life, a fine of $250,000 or both.

Records show Loftis is in custody at Grady County Jail.

The second indictment, for George Skitt III, shows Skitt faces a count of burglary in the first degree and is accused of forcibly bursting and breaking an outer window and entering a dwelling with someone inside with the intent to commit a crime.

Skirt III is also in custody at Grady County Jail.

Both cases originally started with charges from the state, but both cases have moved to federal court following the Oklahoma v. McGirt Supreme Court ruling.

In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court previously ruled that large swaths of eastern Oklahoma — in particular, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation lands — fall within Native American reservations.

Prosecutors said the ruling has altered criminal justice proceedings across eastern Oklahoma because crimes on reservation land involving defendants or victims who are tribal citizens must be prosecuted in federal or tribal courts. Those already convicted of crimes on Oklahoma's reservation lands, meanwhile, are appealing their convictions and having them vacated on the grounds that the state of Oklahoma didn't have the jurisdiction to prosecute them.

The ruling includes the entirety of City of Duncan as well as other portions of Stephens County because of tribal land.