Allen James Bullock, Arson and Cell Phone Threats, Oklahoma 2024

A Del City man has been sentenced to a decade behind bars for setting fire to an apartment complex and sending threatening cell phone messages, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oklahoma City.

Allen James Bullock, 43, was sentenced to 120 months in federal prison for interstate transmission of threatening communications and arson, announced U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester.

The crimes occurred in the early morning hours of November 14, 2023, when the Del City Fire Department extinguished a fire at a nearby apartment complex. The fire was contained to the entrance of the apartment and did not spread further.

The tenant of the apartment was not home at the time and told authorities he believed Bullock may have started the fire. The victim worked with Bullock’s wife and claimed that just hours before the fire, Bullock called and threatened the victim several times because the victim gifted a shirt to Bullock’s wife.

Cell phone records show that Bullock did call the victim multiple times the night of the fire, and an analysis of surveillance footage shows Bullock arriving at the victim’s apartment complex shortly before the fire was set.

Surveillance footage also shows that Bullock visited a nearby gas station to purchase $0.50 of gasoline minutes before the fire, and expert testimony at trial confirmed that debris samples from the fire tested positive for the presence of gasoline.

At the sentencing hearing on October 24, 2024, U.S. District Judge Jodi W. Dishman sentenced Bullock to serve 10 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

The Court noted the serious nature of these offenses, including issuing threatening communications and setting an apartment unit on fire. It further noted that both offenses involved victims and that the fire could have involved additional victims, which include other residents of the apartment complex, had the Del City Fire Department not intervened in a timely manner.

The case is the result of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Del City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stan J. West and Matt Dillon prosecuted the case.

Bullock’s sentencing is a significant blow to those who think they can threaten and intimidate others with impunity.

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