The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Bernard Richard Poulin, age 31, of Beggs, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for murder and five years for an unrelated arson. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.

The charges arose from investigations by the Beggs Police Department, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Lighthorse Police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On Aug. 23, 2022, Poulin pleaded guilty to Murder in Indian Country – Second Degree, along with Arson. According to investigators, on May 10, 2021, Poulin stabbed and killed the victim during a physical altercation at the victim’s residence. While incarcerated in the Okmulgee County Jail after his arrest, Poulin started a fire outside his cell area. The crimes occurred in Indian Country, within the boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation Reservation and within the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable Ronald A. White, Chief Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the hearing in Muskogee. Poulin will remain in custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant United States Attorney Joshua Satter represented the United States.