Dupree Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Ziebach County Sheriff

United States Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that Maka Akan Inaji Frazier, a/k/a Najin Frazier, age 18, of Dupree, South Dakota, appeared before United States District Judge Roberto A. Lange on September 14, 2011, and pled guilty to a superseding information that charged him with assaulting, resisting, or impeding a federal officer. The maximum penalty upon conviction is eight years in custody, a $250,000 fine, or both.

The conviction was the result of an incident on June 3, 2011, near Dupree, where Maka Akan Inaji Frazier, a/k/a Najin Frazier, did forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate, and interfere with Ziebach County Sheriff Robert Menzel, and such act involved physical contact, while Sheriff Robert Menzel was assisting other federal law enforcement officers. Those federal officers were Cheyenne River Sioux tribal police officers who were employed as law enforcement officers with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. During a pursuit of Frazier’s vehicle, the defendant’s truck struck Sheriff Menzel’s patrol car, causing it to go into the ditch.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mikal Hanson.

A presentence investigation was ordered, and a sentencing date was set for December 6, 2011. The defendant was released on bond pending sentencing.