A Grove man was sentenced Monday to three years in federal prison for strangling a former girlfriend.

 30-year-old Tyler Craig Mitchell was also ordered to participate in a drug abuse program and will serve three years probation after his release. Mitchell plead guilty in 2022 to assault by strangling and suffocating in Indian Country.

 The incident took place July 6, 2020, in Delaware County. Court documents say Mitchell went to the victim’s mobile home as she was giving a child a bath. Mitchell placed his lanyard chain around the victim’s neck and began to strangle her. When she tried to call for help, Mitchell grabbed her phone and threw it in the bathtub.  Mitchell also strangled the victim a second time causing her to drop the child.

 Mitchell is also faces charges in Cherokee Nation District Court of domestic abuse, assault and battery by strangulation, kidnapping, and six counts of violating a protective order.