Sentenced to 11 years in prison
On May 6, 2018, a nationwide manhunt for a Purcell woman who had been kidnapped ended when she was found at a residence in the Shadybrook area west of Checotah.
Floyd Joseph Ball Jr., 32 at the time, was arrested by deputies with the McIntosh County Sheriff ’s Department after attempting to flee the residence.
Ball, according to investigators, was the former boyfriend of the victim. He was charged with kidnapping, rape and resisting an officer.
On Feb. 8, 2019, Ball waived a jury trial and pleaded guilty to the rape and kidnapping.
Months later he attempted to rescind the guilty pleas, but the effort to revoke the pleas was rejected.
However, two years later, in 2021, he filed a motion to dismiss the charges based upon the 2020 supreme court decision in the McGirt vs. Oklahoma case.
Because the crimes took place in Mc-Clain County, which is considered part of the Chickasaw Nation, and the defendant was arrested in McIntosh County, which is within the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and the suspect is Native American, the motion was approved on April 22, 2021, and the charges were dropped in district court.
However, he was taken into custody by federal authorities.
On Feb. 6, 2023, Ball pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping in Indian Country.
On March 13, 2024, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
According to investigators, late in the evening on May 5, 2018, Ball entered the back door of a Purcell, Subway sandwich shop and threatened the lone employee with a knife.
Ball forced the victim into a waiting vehicle, and drove the her two hours away to Checotah, where he held the victim captive at an area residence.
On May 6, a McIntosh County deputy located the vehicle outside the residence, apprehended Ball attempting to flee the scene, and freed the victim.
The Honorable David Cleveland Joseph, U.S. District Judge in the Western District of Louisiana, sitting by assignment, presided over the hearing in Muskogee.
Ball was remanded into the 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 Kyra Jenner represented the United States.
