Belcourt Man Sentenced to 30 Years for Child Sexual Abuse
| U.S. Attorney’s Office May 26, 2011 |
MINOT—United States Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon announced that on May 23, 2011, John F. Wallette, 36, of Belcourt, North Dakota, was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Daniel L. Hovland. Judge Hovland sentenced Wallette to 30 years in federal prison, to be followed by a lifetime of supervised release. Wallette was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Crime Victim’s Fund and restitution of $36,376.49. Wallete must register as a sex offender.
Wallette was found guilty by a federal jury on February 3, 2011, on a charge of aggravated sexual abuse of a child. The jury found that Wallette had engaged in various sexual acts with a child under the age of 12 from an unknown time to about July 2008. Additional evidence presented at trial indicated that Wallette also sexually abused other children while employed at a youth shelter facility in Belcourt.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Indian Affairs - Turtle Mountain Agency and Northern Plains Children’s Advocacy Center.
The United States Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case under the Project Safe Childhood Initiative
Assistant United States Attorney Gary Delorme prosecuted the case.