OKLAHOMA CITY – Former Watonga police chief Shawn Kays was charged earlier this month with illegally receiving a firearm while under indictment.
A federal grand jury returned the indictment on Feb. 1 and it was unsealed last Monday, Feb. 7, after Kays surrendered to law enforcement. The new charge was announced by Robert J. Troester, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, in a news release Tuesday.
If convicted, Kays could face up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and up to three years of supervised release.
According to the release, Kays is alleged to have “willfully received” a Glock .45- caliber pistol “on or about” Aug. 15, 2021. This was unlawful because, at the time, Kays was already under indictment for a felony burglary case charged in Blaine County District Court.
That burglary case, stemming from a rough arrest Kays conducted in Watonga in 2019, is still pending. He now lives in Mustang.
The release says Kays’ new federal gun charge is “the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives,” or the ATF, with assistance from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary E. Walters is prosecuting the case.
The OSBI also led the investigation into Kays’ burglary case.
In a court appearance last Tuesday, Feb. 8, Kays pled not guilty to the new gun charge and was released on $5,000 bond. His next court appearance in the burglary case is scheduled for later this month.