Quapaw ex-officer pleads guilty to sex crime

TULSA — A former Quapaw tribal officer pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal charge that could net him life in prison.

Thomas Crawfish Mathews, 35, admitted during a morning hearing in Tulsa federal court that he tried last year to entice someone he believed to be under the age of 18 to have sex with him.

The minor turned out to an undercover police officer from Miami, Oklahoma.

A federal grand jury on Nov. 6 indicted Mathews on one count of attempted enticement of a minor. Mathews faces a statutory mandatory prison term of 10 years to life in prison when he is sentenced June 6.

Federal prosecutors later said that since Mathews’ indictment, the government had become aware of three other instances where the defendant had contacted minors via the Whisper application. The three other alleged instances all occurred prior to Mathews’ indictment.

In one of the three cases, all involving 16-year-old females, Mathews had engaged in sex, according to a prosecutor.

In the two other cases, Mathews requested the minors send him nude photos of themselves.

U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan quizzed Mathews about his plea before accepting it.

“You knowingly engaged in this attempted enticement of this minor?” Eagan asked.

“Yes,” Mathews replied.

Mathews, who had been free on an unsecured bond, was ordered into the custody of the U.S. Marshal at the conclusion of the hearing.

Following his indictment, Mathews resigned from the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma Business Committee, where he held the elected position of vice chairman, according to the tribe’s website.