Haskell Man Originally Charged With 3 Crimes, Now Faces 1 Charge

A Haskell man who was originally charged with three serious crimes, is now charged with only one case after it was moved to federal court.

One of Aaron Johnson's victims, James Murray, is frustrated and worried he won't get justice after he said he was robbed and beaten by Johnson and his crew.

Murray recalled being assaulted that night when he woke up and found Johnson in his home. 

"He started screaming, 'Get down, get down, get down!' He hit me, he was gouging me with the gun," Murray said. "He hit me in the head with the gun and of course it knocked me about half out and I laid on the floor. And he said, 'I oughta kill you.'"

Murray was 81 years old when he was beaten and robbed in his home near Haskell. Wagoner County Sheriff Chris Elliott said that happened less than a year after Johnson tied up and robbed a teenager in his home.

He said that was just three months before Johnson was accused of stealing two fire trucks and equipment from the Redbird Fire Department.

Johnson was arrested in 2018 for robbing the teenage boy, but he bonded out of jail and was given an ankle monitor.

Johnson was arrested again in 2019 after GPS data from that monitor put Johnson at the scene of the two other crimes.

Elliot said Johnson faced several charges in state court, but those cases were dismissed after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on tribal jurisdictions in McGirt v. Oklahoma.

He was then charged in federal court, but only with the robbery of the boy.

Murray hopes federal prosecutors bring charges on Johnson for his case.

"Nobody ought to get away with what they did to the young boy down there, and nobody ought to get away with what they did to me,"Murray said.

Even though Johnson faces only one federal charge now, U.S. attorney Brian Kuester said that could change in the future.