COEUR D’ALENE - Cruz Flechita Ramon Soto, 34, of Plummer, Idaho, was sentenced yesterday for aggravated assault and use of a firearm in a crime of violence, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Soto was sentenced to 180 months in prison followed by five years supervised release. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Soto to pay restitution in an amount to be determined later. Soto pleaded guilty on July 29, 2016.
According to the plea agreement, in the early morning of Nov. 12, 2015, while the victim, an Indian, was sleeping in the living room of a relative’s house, Soto, also an Indian, came to the house. Soto and the victim spoke for about 20 minutes then Soto shot the victim in the chest, back, and neck. The victim was flown to Kootenai Hospital where he was stabilized and flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The victim was able to identify Soto as the shooter. The shooting occurred within the boundaries of the Coeur d’Alene Indian reservation.
The case was investigated by Coeur d’Alene Tribal Police, Benewah County Sheriff’s Department, and Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
