Former Tribal Police Officer Sentenced
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 30, 2010 |
BISMARCK—United States Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon announced that on September 29, 2010, Anibal Fernandez, 47, formerly of Twin Buttes, North Dakota, pleaded guilty and was sentenced before United States District Court Magistrate Judge Charles S. Miller, Jr., to a charge of interfering with a telephone during emergency call. Magistrate Judge Miller sentenced Fernandez to 90 days of unsupervised probation and a $25 special assessment to the Crime Victim's Fund.
On February 23, 2010, Fernandez, who was then employed as a law enforcement officer for Three Affiliated Tribes, was involved in a dispute at his home. During the dispute, Fernandez took a cell phone away from another person and broke the phone, while that person was attempting to call law enforcement officials.
The case was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs - Fort Berthold Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Dunn County Sheriff’s Office.
Assistant United States Attorney Brandi Sasse Russell prosecuted the case.