ABERDEEN – United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann has sentenced a Little Eagle, South Dakota, man convicted of Assault by Striking, Beating or Wounding. The sentencing took place on October 21, 2024.
Chate Moses Bobtail Bear, 46, was sentenced to one year in federal prison, followed by one year of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $25 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Bobtail Bear was indicted by a federal grand jury in April of 2024. He pleaded guilty on July 29, 2024.
On January 25, 2024, Bobtail Bear quarreled with his brother-in-law at a home in Little Eagle, which lies within the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation. At police direction, Bobtail Bear decamped. Later that evening, Bobtail Bear returned, kicked open the door, entered the house, and swatted his brother-in-law across the face, who sustained a fractured sinus and a laceration to his knee in the affray.
This matter was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office because the Major Crimes Act, a federal statute, mandates that certain serious crimes alleged to have occurred in Indian country be prosecuted in Federal court as opposed to State court.
This case was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs- Office of Justice Services. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Carl Thunem and Brian Murphy prosecuted the case.
Bobtail Bear was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
