A Dunmore man was sentenced on July 23 to five years in prison and five years of supervised release after being found guilty of sexually abusing a child on the Crow Indian Reservation, Acting U.S. Attorney Mark Steger Smith said.
Following a three-day trial in February 2026, a jury convicted Jared Cordell Stewart, 55, of one count of abusive sexual contact of a child. U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided over the case.
According to court documents presented by the government, in July 2020 a child initially reported that Stewart had sexually abused her but later denied the abuse during a follow-up visit from law enforcement. In October 2021, police interviewed the victim again; this time she disclosed that Stewart had abused her many times beginning when she was seven or eight years old and said she previously lied at Stewart’s direction. Law enforcement interviewed all residents of the home, with several reporting seeing Stewart enter the victim’s room at night and after she showered.
Others living in the home reported witnessing Stewart treat the victim differently and observed inappropriate photos of her on his cell phone. One child stated he saw Stewart touch the victim’s legs while she was in bed during a visit to the home. Another reported that Stewart made inappropriate comments about her and approached her while alone and asleep; after refusing his advances, she believed he then targeted the victim.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelsey M. Hendricks and Tom Godfrey prosecuted this case, which was investigated by the FBI.
The U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana is part of the Department of Justice and operates offices across Billings, Great Falls, Helena, and Missoula to support its work throughout Montana; it focuses on ethical enforcement of federal laws related to violent crime, fraud, environmental offenses, national security defense, community safety enhancement, quality-of-life issues for citizens, and safeguarding public funds, according to its official website.