After avoiding arrest for two years for his part in operating a whiskey still, justice finally caught up with a Wewoka man when the felony charge was filed on the same date as the raid on his still two years later.

According to documents filed in the District Court of Seminole County, Karl Arthur Sterrett, 35, was officially charged with: one count of domestic abuse –assault and battery; one count of domestic abuse and battery by strangulation; and assault and battery, or assault and battery with dangerous weapon.

The felony charge of operating a whiskey still without distiller’s license was officially filed the same day, September 17, 2021. The text of Count 1 reads, “…on or about the 17th day of September 2019, by operating a whiskey still at (location), Wewoka, OK with the intent to produce alcoholic beverages or carrying on a business of a distiller without having in his possession a valid and existing distiller’s license issued pursuant to the provisions of the Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Control Act.”

The probable cause warrant filed in the case states that on September 17, 2019, a search warrant was executed at a rural residence near Wewoka for the illegal operation of a whiskey still without a license, according to an affidavit of arrest filed in the District Court of Seminole County on October 3, 2019. Although a co-resident was arrested at that time, Sterrett was never charged until Friday.

The search warrant was served by Mike Randol, a Lieutenant with the McAlester District of the state of Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement (ABLE) Commission. During that raid officers discovered the co-resident at the location, but Sterrett wasn’t present. Lt. Randol allegedly located the illegal whiskey still he was searching for.

The warrant states the co-resident confessed that the whiskey still was his and he was able to explain exactly how each component of the still operated as well as knowledge on how to cook or manufacture the beer into a distilled spirit. The co-resident allegedly voluntarily wrote a statement admitting the whiskey still was his and Karl Sterrett knew about it and allowed him to operate it there on the premise.

The still was processed for evidence.