A Checotah man was sentenced to nearly 15 years in federal prison on a variety of charges.
Tyler James Stephens, 25, was found guilty of cyberstalking, video voyeurism, burglary, attempted burglary, attempted sexual abuse, and coercing and enticing a minor. He is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. The sentence was for 14 years and eight months.
According to court documents Stephens was said to have committed a string of crimes between May 2020 and May 2021. Stephens roamed Checotah, looking through the windows of residences, and sometimes taking photographs or videos of female victims in various states of undress within their homes. He broke into or attempted to break into the homes of some female victims of whom he had taken surreptitious images. Stephens also broke into a residence and attempted to sexually assault the resident while her minor child was in the room. In two instances, Stephens accessed a social media account belonging to someone else and used it to solicit nude or private images of minors, including by sending an obscene picture to one of the minors. Stephens also threatened to publicly post a photo of one of the minors and “ruin her life” if she did not comply with his requests.
Lester R. Hayes Jr. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Dallas said the case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.