Tyson Gene Williams of Muskogee and Tyson Gene Goins of Wagoner were sentenced on July 28 in federal district court for firearms-related crimes, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.
Williams received a sentence of 57 months for one count of felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. He pleaded guilty to the charge on October 6, 2025. Goins was sentenced to 51 months each for one count of possession of a stolen firearm and one count of illegal receipt of a firearm by a person under indictment or information. The court ordered that Goins serve these terms concurrently. He pleaded guilty on September 10, 2025.
The charges followed an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Checotah Police Department. Investigators said that during an April 19, 2025, traffic stop involving Williams’ and Goins’ vehicle, officers found Williams with two semi-automatic pistols and 27 rounds of ammunition after he had previously been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year imprisonment. During the same stop, Goins was found with two semi-automatic pistols that he knew were stolen; at that time he was under indictment for a felony criminal case in McIntosh County District Court.
Project Safe Neighborhoods is described as the Department of Justice’s nationwide initiative bringing together law enforcement agencies at all levels to address violent crime and public safety challenges through coordinated efforts. According to program materials cited during sentencing, Project Safe Neighborhoods is tailored to individual communities’ needs and forms part of Operation Take Back America.
The Honorable Ronald A. White presided over the hearing in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. The defendants will remain in U.S. Marshals Service custody until they are transported to designated Bureau of Prisons facilities to serve their sentences without parole.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District covers federal criminal investigations, prosecutions, civil litigation, debt collection responsibilities across twenty-six counties including Adair and Atoka counties; it operates from Muskogee facilities as part of its mission under the Department of Justice serving sovereign Tribal Nations within Indian country—making it unique among federal judicial districts—according to its official website.