Bryan County Resident Sentenced For Illegally Possessing Firearm

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Sammy Lynn Key, age 45, of Colbert, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 70 months in prison for one count of Felon in Possession of Firearm.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Atoka County Sheriff's Office.

On August 5, 2025, Key pleaded guilty to the charge. According to investigators, on September 23, 2022, deputies investigating reports of a stolen vehicle discovered Key in possession of a .38 Special caliber revolver. At the time of the investigation, Key had 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 Ronald A. White, Chief U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing. Key will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan E. Soverly and Lewis M. Reagan represented the United States.