Richard Eugene Lonebear Sentenced in U.S. District Court
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 02, 2010 |
The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings, on December 2, 2010, before Chief U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, RICHARD EUGENE LONEBEAR, a 39-year-old resident of Lame Deer, appeared for sentencing. LONEBEAR was sentenced to a term of:
Prison: 38 months
Special Assessment: $100
Supervised Release: Life
LONEBEAR was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to abusive sexual contact.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lori Harper Suek, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On the morning of August 12, 2009, the victim, age 5, was with her mother at LONEBEAR and his wife's house in Lame Deer. LONEBEAR's wife was babysitting the victim while the victim's mother slept on a couch at the house. At some point, LONEBEAR's wife left the house.
The victim woke her mother up by jumping on her legs. While driving home that day, the victim told her mom that LONEBEAR tried to put his hand down her pants. The victim was examined by a doctor and told him the same thing. The victim also told another doctor the same thing which was videotaped.
When interviewed, LONEBEAR initially denied any sexual contact but finally admitted that he touched the victim under her pants, "skin to skin" on the top part of her vaginal area. He was very specific that he stopped himself and did not put his hand all the way down into her vaginal area. He said that he touched the victim because her mom was sleeping on the couch in a mini skirt and she was not wearing underwear.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that LONEBEAR will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, LONEBEAR does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15 percent of the overall sentence.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.