St. Francis Man Sentenced for Sexual Abuse of a Minor

PIERRE - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that Chief Judge Roberto A. Lange, U.S. District Court, has sentenced a St. Francis, South Dakota, man convicted of Sexual Abuse of a Minor. The sentencing took place on February 1, 2024.

Meteo Running Enemy, age 19, was sentenced to four years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Running Enemy was indicted by a federal grand jury in July of 2023. He pleaded guilty on November 8, 2023.

The conviction stems from an incident that occurred in May of 2023 in St. Francis, wherein Running Enemy engaged in a sexual act with a minor who had attained the age of 12 years but had not attained the age of 16 years.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Albertson prosecuted the case.   

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

This matter was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office because the Major Crimes Act, a federal statute, mandates that certain violent crimes alleged to have occurred in Indian Country be prosecuted in federal court as opposed to State court.

Running Enemy was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.