Man indicted on federal charges of stalking, evidence tampering

Rodney Joe Smith, 45, of Poteau is charged with stalking and evidence tampering in indictments returned by the Grand Jury in the Northern District of Oklahoma.

The indictment alleges that between Sept. 1, 2022, to Sept 18, 2022, Smith stalked a victim with the intent to kill, injure, harass and intimidate her. Smith allegedly installed a GPS tracker inside the victim’s rear bumper without her knowledge and would track and confront her.

The defendant threw rocks at her vehicle, cracked her windshield, followed her and falsely reported her for reckless driving. He is alleged to have further harassed her via phone. He left harassing messages and sometimes used an app to disguise the phone number, making it appear as if his calls were coming from the Tulsa Police Department.

In addition, he created fake Facebook accounts that purported to be the victim and publicly shared her home and work addresses. He also created a fake profile on a dating app purporting to be the victim, and the victim began receiving phone calls, texts, and unsolicited images from men who claimed to have met her online.

The indictment further alleges the defendant pulled down the outside cameras that were part of the victim’s home security system. The defendant’s laptop also revealed he had conducted a google search on how to enter a home undetected.

According to the indictment, law enforcement further located a trail camera, GPS tracker, the victim’s work identification card, night vision goggles, binoculars, a brown wig, a laptop which had a google search for the security radio frequency where the victim worked and a search for how to disable a particular vehicle, a cell phone, notepads with the victim’s personal information, Viagra pills, and a ghillie suit, which is a type of camouflage clothing.

Then, while detained, Smith allegedly directed another individual take his cell phone to Verizon and, in a phone call, requested an employee remotely wipe the contents of his electronic devices and delete his iCloud account in an attempt to destroy evidence.

The FBI and police in the Muscogee Nation are the investigative agencies.