Osage AG Jones designated as special federal prosecutor

TULSA — Osage Nation Attorney General Jeff Jones has been named as a special assistant to the United States Attorney for Northern Oklahoma.

Jones will work alongside other federal prosecutors in an effort to improve public safety in Northern Oklahoma tribal communities, said U.S. Attorney Danny C. Williams Sr.

The Osage Nation is one of 13 federally-recognized Indian tribes located within the jurisdictional area of the Department of Justice’s Tulsa office.

Williams appointed Jones and Sarah Hill, the deputy attorney general of the Cherokee Nation, as special assistant U.S. attorneys in the office’s Indian Country Prosecution Unit, Williams said. The two tribal appointees were sworn-in during a Dec. 10 investiture ceremony.

After serving 10 years as an Osage County assistant district attorney, Jones was selected in 2010 to become the first-ever attorney general of the the Osage Nation.

The U.S. attorney noted the unique legal and political relationship that has been established between Native American tribes and the United States by the Constitution and various treaties, federal statutes, executive orders and court decisions.

In Oklahoma, as well as most other states, the U.S. Department of Justice is vested with primary jurisdiction over felony crimes — including drug trafficking, sexual abuse, and violence against women — that occur on Indian lands.

“Indian Country is a significant priority and my office is committed to building and sustaining safe tribal communities in the Northern District,” Williams said.