New Town Man Found Guilty of Sexual and Physical Abuse

MINOT—Acting United States Attorney Lynn Jordheim announced that on June 17, 2010, Monty M. Mariner, 30, of New Town, North Dakota, was found guilty by a federal jury, following 75 minutes of deliberation, on charges of sexual abuse, assault resulting in serious bodily injury, and assault with a dangerous weapon. United States District Court Judge Daniel L. Hovland presided.

In November 2009, on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, Mariner physically and sexually assaulted a woman inside a motor vehicle after leaving a house party in New Town. The victim suffered life-threatening injuries. An analyst from the North Dakota Crime Lab testified at trial that a mixture of the victim’s and Mariner’s DNA was found on an object located in a garbage can outside Mariner’s residence in the Four Bears Village area of New Town by Bureau of Indian Affairs criminal investigators. A smaller piece of the same object was located by those investigators inside Mariner’s vehicle. The analyst testified that this piece of the object had the victim’s DNA upon it.

The charge of sexual abuse carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The charges of assault resulting in serious bodily injury and assault with a dangerous weapon each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Three Affiliated Tribes Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Sentencing for Mariner has been scheduled for September 27, 2010, in United States District Court in Minot, North Dakota, at 1:00 p.m.

Assistant United States Attorney Rick Volk is prosecuting the case.