McCurtain County Resident Sentenced For Federal Firearm Charge

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Dale Warren Gribnitz, age 67, of Valliant, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 5 years of probation for one count of Felon in Possession of Firearm.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Valliant Police Department, the Choctaw County Sheriff's Office, the Choctaw Nation Lighthorse Police, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On April 8, 2025, Gribnitz pleaded guilty to the charge. According to investigators, on October 20, 2024, Gribnitz knowingly possessed a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun after having been previously convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year imprisonment.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The Honorable Robert J. Shelby, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the District of Utah, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan E. Soverly represented the United States.