Vinita Man Sentenced for Raping a 16-Year-Old

TULSA, Okla. - A Vinita man was sentenced today after being found guilty by a federal jury in April for raping a 16-year-old, announced U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Nassar.

U.S. District Judge John F. Heil, III, sentenced Garret Lee Monroe, 38, who was convicted of Aggravated Sexual Abuse by Force in Indian Country. Monroe was ordered to serve 360 months imprisonment, followed by lifetime supervised release. Upon release, Monroe will also be required to register as a sex offender.

"Garrett Monroe is a sexual predator and career criminal who preyed upon and violently sexually assaulted an innocent sixteen-year-old girl," stated U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Nassar. "Thanks to the efforts of our AUSAs and investigators, he will now spend a well-deserved thirty years in federal prison. I want to commend the victim for her brave testimony at trial, and I'm thankful that our office was able to bring her some measure of justice."

"The courageous testimony of the young victim in this case was critical to securing the conviction and the significant sentence imposed today," said FBI Oklahoma City Special Agent in Charge Doug Goodwater. "The FBI and our partners remain steadfast in our mission to remove sexual predators from our communities and ensure they face the full weight of the federal justice system."

At trial, evidence was presented that in November 2025, Vinita Police officers were dispatched to a fight in progress. When officers arrived, they broke up a fight between Monroe and another man. Officers spoke with the man, who stated that he was contacted by the 16-year-old minor victim, who asked him to come home as soon as possible because something bad had happened. The man explained that the minor victim told him that Monroe had strangled, raped, and threatened to kill her. The man confronted Monroe for raping the minor victim and a fight ensued.

Officers then spoke with the 16-year-old minor victim. She told officers that Monroe woke her up in the middle of the night by covering her mouth and strangling her. When the minor victim testified, she explained to the jury that while Monroe was strangling her, she could not breathe and thought she was going to die. She began screaming, and Monroe put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her. Monroe then proceeded to rape the minor victim. After he was finished, Monroe told the victim he was afraid he was "gonna go back to prison" and offered to pay the victim $500 a week not to tell anyone.

When the sexual assault nurse testified at trial, she went through her detailed reports and explained to the jury what the minor victim reported to her. The nurse took DNA swabs and photographed the 16-year-old's injuries. The photographs were shown to the jury, including photos of bruises and abrasions to her neck and of the petechiae in the victim's eyes and on her face caused by the strangulation.

When a DNA expert with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation testified, they confirmed that the swabs taken from the minor victim matched the victim and Monroe's DNA.

Court dockets show that Monroe is a prior felon and was previously convicted of serious offenses, including assault and battery on an officer, assault and battery with a deadly weapon, and robbery. When Monroe was sentenced in 2007 for robbery, he was sentenced to 20 years in the Department of Corrections, with 16 years suspended. Monroe did not comply with the terms of his release and his sentence was revoked. He served more than 14 years in prison, and court records show that he was released seven months prior to the rape.

Monroe is a citizen of the Northern Arapaho Tribe of Wyoming and will remain in custody pending transfer to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.

The FBI, the Vinita Police Department, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and the Tulsa Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stacey Todd and Blithe Cravens prosecuted the case.

This case was prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, local, and tribal resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.