HEAVENER RESIDENT SENTENCED FOR FEDERAL DRUG CRIME

PRESS RELEASE BY: DOJ, United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Oklahoma

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Joseph Scott Casteel, age 37, of Heavener, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 130 months in prison for one count of possessing with the intent to distribute methamphetamine.

The charge arose from the Department of Homeland Security and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol investigation.

On February 5, 2024, Casteel pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. According to investigators, on July 25, 2023, law enforcement observed a vehicle on US 59 highway in LeFlore County traveling at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour. OHP troopers gave chase and observed Casteel throw a large bag from the vehicle. After stopping the vehicle, Troopers apprehended Casteel. Troopers also retrieved the bag which contained over 850 grams of methamphetamine. Casteel later admitted to purchasing the methamphetamine with the intent to sell it to others.

The Honorable William P. Johnson, Chief U.S. District Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing in Muskogee, Oklahoma. Casteel will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-parolable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Howanitz represented the United States.