22-Year-Old Man Sentenced for Sexually Assaulting Sleeping Victim

Acting United States Attorney Susan Lehr announced that Kason Cline, 22, of Walthill, Nebraska, was sentenced on August 15, 2023, in Omaha, Nebraska, by Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. for one count of sexual abuse of an incapable victim. Cline was sentenced to 54 months in prison and will serve 5 years on supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was initiated in July of 2022 by the Omaha Nation Law Enforcement Services after receiving a call from Twelve Clans Unity Hospital in Winnebago, Nebraska regarding a patient who wished to report a sexual assault. The Omaha Nation Tribal Police responded and spoke with the victim who relayed she had been drinking with Cline on the Omaha Nation Indian Reservation, when she passed out and fell asleep in Cline’s bed. When she woke up, Cline was sexually assaulting her. Because the victim was asleep at the time the sexual act occurred, she was unable to consent or decline participation in the conduct. A search warrant was executed at Cline’s residence to recover evidentiary items related to the assault. Cline was interviewed and ultimately admitted to the sexual assault.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.