A Sallisaw woman who pleaded guilty to “willfully and maliciously setting fire to and burning a dwelling” has been sentenced to 36 months in prison and ordered to pay $7,500 in restitution for committing arson in Indian Country.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced last week the sentencing of Felicia Nicholl Barger, 35.

The charges arose from investigations by the Sallisaw Police Department, the Oklahoma State Fire Marshal, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On May 6, 2022, Bargar pleaded guilty to the October 2020 charge of intentionally setting fire to a trailer house she was renting after receiving an eviction notice, according to investigators.

“I am thankful for the cooperative investigative work of law enforcement which resulted in the defendant being brought to justice for her senseless and malicious acts,” U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Wilson said.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma prosecuted the case because the defendant is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and the crimes occurred in Sequoyah County, within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation Reservation and within the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

Charles B. Goodwin, a U.S. District Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, sitting by appointment, presided over the hearing in Oklahoma City.

Bargar will remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-parolable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Gross represented the United States in the case.