Roger Dean Snake Sentenced in U.S. Federal Court

The United States Attorney’s Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings on August 3, 2011, before Senior U.S. District Judge Jack D. Shanstrom, ROGER DEAN SNAKE, a 59-year-old resident of Lame Deer, appeared for sentencing. SNAKE was sentenced to a term of:

Prison: 151 months
Special Assessment: $200
Supervised Release: life

SNAKE was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to two counts of abusive sexual contact.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marcia K. Hurd stated the government would have proved at trial the following:

On March 19, 2010, a child, then age 8, disclosed to a school counselor at St. Labre that she was touched in a sexual manner by her step-grandfather, SNAKE. She reported the touching was of her private parts on numerous occasions at SNAKE’s home in Muddy Cluster, within the exterior boundaries of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation. She reported her belief that SNAKE was doing the same things to her older sister.

Both girls were interviewed by Dr. Earl Sutherland and both disclosed an ongoing pattern of sexual abuse by SNAKE at his home. They had normal physical exams but again disclosed the sexual abuse. The other child’s abuse took place both before and after she turned 12. SNAKE is an enrolled member of the Hochunk Nation of Wisconsin.

While he denied the charges initially when questioned, Snake admitted during the change of plea hearing that he had, in fact, sexually abused both girls.

Because there is no parole in the federal system, the “truth in sentencing” guidelines mandate that SNAKE will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, SNAKE does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for “good behavior.” However, this reduction will not exceed 15 percent of the overall sentence.

The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.