Warm Springs Man Sentenced for Aggravated Sexual Abuse of Two Minor Females The Victims Were Relatives of the Defendant

PORTLAND, OR—Bryson Sutterlee, 24, of Warm Springs, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Ancer L. Haggerty to serve 188 months in federal prison for sexually abusing two minor females on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Indian Reservation. Upon release from prison, Sutterlee will serve five years on supervised release. While on supervised release, Sutterlee will be required to participate in a sex offender treatment program, he will be prohibited from having any communication or contact with his female victims, and the court must approve any contact he has with minors. The defendant was also ordered to register with the state sex offender registration agency.

According to statements made in court at the sentencing hearing, Sutterlee lived in a Warm Springs residence with his grandmother and other family members. While on the reservation, the defendant sexually abused two of his female relatives by force and without their consent. One of Sutterlee’s victims was under the age of 12 at the time of the abuse; the other victim was under the age of 16.

“The victims in this case showed great courage by coming forward and disclosing the defendant’s horrific sexual abuse,” said Dwight C. Holton, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon. “The Warm Springs Police Department did an excellent job investigating this case, and the Warm Springs Victims of Crime Services performed admirably by supporting the victims and their family throughout the investigation and prosecution of the case.”

This investigation was conducted by the Warm Springs Police Department and the Bend office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Billy J. Williams and Craig J. Gabriel.