Alison J. Ramsdell U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced the sentencing of Nathaniel Yazzie, a 24-year-old man from Sisseton, South Dakota, for child abuse. U.S. District Judge Eric C. Schulte sentenced Yazzie to one year and seven months in federal prison on January 27, 2025. Following his prison term, Yazzie will serve three years of supervised release and pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Yazzie was indicted by a federal grand jury in September 2024 and pleaded guilty on October 31, 2024. The charges stemmed from an incident on July 29, 2024, when Yazzie struck a three-year-old child multiple times in the face and head while caring for the child. A concerned individual reported hearing the abuse from Yazzie’s room and alerted law enforcement. Officers found the child with a bloody lip and facial bruising consistent with being slapped upon their arrival at Yazzie's residence. The child received medical attention at a hospital after Yazzie's arrest on tribal charges.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case under the Major Crimes Act, which requires certain violent crimes in Indian Country to be handled in federal court rather than state court.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Law Enforcement Services, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Venhuizen leading the prosecution.
Yazzie has been placed in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
