2 Okla. men sentenced for wrapping a sleeping inmate in toilet paper and setting him on fire
05/01/2024 2:49 pm PDT
TULSA, Okla. (TCD) -- Two men will spend several years in federal prison after lighting a fellow inmate on fire in 2022.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma announced Tuesday, April 30, that a judge sentenced 30-year-old Justin Gering and 23-year-old Tyler Tavis to 60 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release for arson of property of an institution and organization receiving federal financial assistance. A federal grand jury initially indicted the two in February 2023.
According to prosecutors, in December 2022, while in custody at the Ottawa County Jail, Tavis and Gering were caught on camera "wrapping a sleeping inmate in toilet paper and setting it on fire." The victim was reportedly covered with a county-issued fire-retardant blanket, preventing him from suffering critical burns. The U.S. attorney's office said other inmates helped to extinguish the flames and kept the fire from spreading throughout the jail.
Gering and Tavis will remain in custody until they are transferred and booked into the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
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