Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Western District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025
In the Western District of Oklahoma, 437 people were sentenced for fraud, theft, or embezzlement in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. A total of 309 (71%) received a prison term, and 101 (23%) received probation only. The median prison term was 20 months, the same as the median across all 94 districts.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Western District of Oklahoma, FY201 › Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement: Western District of Oklahoma
In brief: In the Western District of Oklahoma, 437 people were sentenced for fraud, theft, or embezzlement in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. A total of 309 (71%) received a prison term, and 101 (23%) received probation only. The median prison term was 20 months, the same as the median across all 94 districts.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 437 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Prison and Probation
The U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense type is "Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement." In this district, 71% of those sentenced received a prison term, compared with 73% in all districts.
The median prison term among the 309 sent to prison was 20 months. A quarter received 36 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less. In all 94 districts, 58,502 people were sentenced, and the median was also 20 months. For every offense type in this district, the median was 46 months.
A Single Guideline
Of the 437 people, 386 were under §2B1.1 (Larceny, Embezzlement, and Other Forms of Theft). This is the primary guideline the Commission assigned to those cases.
Fraud, theft, and embezzlement cases were 9% of the 4,661 people sentenced in the district.
Restitution Was Ordered for Most
Restitution was ordered for 365 people (84%), and a fine for 49 (11%). Restitution is money the court orders paid back to a victim.
After prison, 289 people (66%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months.
Sentences and the Guideline Range
Of the 436 people with the information, 216 (50%) were within the range. A total of 46 (11%) were below the range at the government's request, and 154 (35%) were below it without a government request. Another 20 (5%) were above the range.
In all districts, 45% were within the range. For all offenses in this district, 50% were. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 11 of the 385 people with that information recorded (3%).
Pleas and Trials
A total of 422 of 437 people (97%) pleaded guilty, and 15 were convicted after a trial. In all districts, 96% pleaded guilty.
The median prison term was 20 months after a guilty plea and 27 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on 13 people sent to prison. Among guilty pleas, 79% had a written plea agreement and 17% were straight pleas. In criminal history, 61% were in the lowest category and 9% in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Yearly Figures
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 191 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 246. A fiscal year runs from October 1 through the end of September.
The largest year was 2023, with 64 people, and the smallest was 2021, with 21. The median prison term was 30 months in 2017 and 12 months in 2021. The records cannot show why these numbers moved.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 58 | 25.5 months | 95% |
| 2017 | 47 | 30 months | 96% |
| 2018 | 50 | 19 months | 100% |
| 2019 | 36 | 24 months | 97% |
| 2020 | 35 | 21 months | 91% |
| 2021 | 21 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2022 | 25 | 15 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 64 | 17 months | 98% |
| 2024 | 49 | 18 months | 94% |
| 2025 | 52 | 19.5 months | 96% |
Installations and Limits
Altus AFB, Fort Sill, and Tinker AFB, all in Oklahoma, are in this district. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal district court.
Only convicted, sentenced people are counted, so acquittals and dismissals are missing. Prison terms are those imposed, not time served, and the records say nothing about the conduct in individual cases.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Western District of Oklahoma (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Oklahoma West") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Fraud/Theft/Embezzlement" (437). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the Western District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Western District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Western District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Western District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Drug Possession Sentences in the Western District of Oklahoma, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.