MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)), published as received.

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Rafael Martin Sangines, age 30, of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 70 months in prison for one count of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon with Intent to do Bodily Harm in Indian Country, and to 70 months for one count of Felon in Possession of Firearm and Ammunition.  The Court ordered the sentences to be served concurrently.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Broken Arrow Police Department, the Tulsa Police Department, and the Wagoner County Sheriff’s Office.

On May 13, 2025, Sangines pleaded guilty to the charges in federal district court.  According to investigators, on September 29, 2024, Sangines struck the victim repeatedly with the barrel and stock of an AR-15 style rifle and threatened to kill the victim.  The victim sustained multiple contusions and lacerations before escaping to safety.  Law enforcement apprehended Sangines a short time later during a traffic stop and took Sangines into custody.  A search conducted of Sangines and the vehicle he was driving revealed a loaded pistol magazine, a chamber-loaded AR-15 with a 30-round magazine, a chamber-loaded semi-automatic pistol with a 30-round magazine, and spent rifle casings.  Prior to the attack and apprehension, Sangines had been convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year imprisonment.

The crimes occurred in Wagoner County, within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

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 John F. Heil, III, Chief District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing.  Sangines 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. Attorney Jonathan E. Soverly represented the United States.