Attorneys for a man arrested in a child predator sting and later sentenced to prison argue the state does not have jurisdiction in the case since the man sent the messages while at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant.
An Okmulgee County jury found Keith McVicker guilty in September 2022 of soliciting sexual conduct or communicating with a minor by use of technology and sentenced him to serve 10-years in the Oklahoma Department of Corrections.
McVicker, 49, with a listed address of Clarksville, Tennessee, was arrested in March 2019 after investigators alleged he communicated with an undercover officer for two weeks before agreeing to meet with what he thought was a 13-year-old girl for sex in Henryetta.
Court records and investigators identified McVicker as the assistant fire chief for the McAAP Fire Department at the time of his arrest.
In his appeal, attorneys argue McVicker communicated with the undercover officer while he was on McAAP property and that the federal government has the proper jurisdiction to charge McVicker with a crime, not the state.
“While the lunch meetup at Braum’s was obviously the product of conversations had at McAlester, which could be plausibly considered solicitations, the solicitation was complete when the parties had set the time of their meetup,” his attorneys state in court documents
Attorneys for the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office argue the state does have the proper jurisdiction because the messages were received in Okmulgee County.
“The state can try an offense where only part of the criminal offense was committed within its territorial boundaries,” the state wrote in its argument.
Court records show McVicker sent 72 emails over seven different dates to the undercover officer with two sent from Tennessee. The officer was posing as a “recently divorced father looking for companionship for himself and his daughter” on a website.
An hour after the post went online, McVicker replied to the post with the officer stating the daughter was “14 in July rides horse with her friends and plays softball.” Later conversations from McVicker consisted of sexually explicit scenarios with the daughter, according to court documents.
McVicker was arrested on March 18, 2019, after he agreed to meet up at the Braum’s in Henryetta and was found with condoms in his pocket, according to court records. During his trial, McVicker claimed he went to Henryetta to check on the safety of the girl after he believed the girl had a black eye in a photo that was sent by the undercover officer and that the condoms in his pocket was for a date scheduled later that day.
Attorneys for McVicker are asking the Oklahoma Court of Appeals to reverse and dismiss his conviction, remand for a new trial, or a favorable modification of his sentence.
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