August 12, 2023 - A federal grand jury in Muskogee, Oklahoma, returned a three-count indictment, unsealed on Friday, charging former Savanna Police Department (SPD) police officer Jeffery Scott Smith Jr. with a federal civil rights violation for sexually assaulting a victim while acting under color of law and obstructing justice.

According to the indictment, on Nov. 2, 2022, in Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, Jeffery Scott Smith Jr., 35, while on duty as an SPD police officer, conducted a traffic stop on a car in which the victim was a passenger. Count one of the indictment charges Smith with depriving the victim of her right to bodily integrity when he sexually assaulted the victim during the traffic stop. That indictment alleges that Smith’s conduct resulted in bodily injury to the victim and included the commission of a nonconsensual sexual act with the victim. Counts two and three of the indictment charge Smith with knowingly altering, concealing, covering up and falsifying an SPD record by deactivating his SPD body worn camera and SPD dashboard camera during the traffic stop, with the intent to impede, obstruct, and influence an investigation into his sexual misconduct.

If convicted, Smith faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison on the civil rights count and 20 years in prison on each of the obstruction of justice counts.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Wilson for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, and Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray of the FBI Oklahoma City Field Office made the announcement.

The FBI Oklahoma City Field Office is investigating the case, with assistance from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the Pittsburg County Sheriff’s Office.

Trial Attorney Laura Gilson of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Compton for the Eastern District of Oklahoma are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source: DOJ Release