Alison J. Ramsdell U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
John Thompson, a 44-year-old resident of Fort Thompson, South Dakota, has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for abusive sexual contact. The sentencing was delivered by U.S. District Judge Eric C. Schulte on September 22, 2025.
Thompson will also serve five years of supervised release following his prison term and must pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in November 2024 and pleaded guilty on June 20, 2025.
The conviction relates to an incident that took place between August 1, 2010, and August 31, 2011, on the Crow Creek Sioux Indian Reservation. During this period, Thompson fondled the genitalia of a boy under the age of twelve.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, "the Major Crimes Act, a federal statute, mandates that certain violent crimes alleged to have occurred in Indian Country be prosecuted in Federal court as opposed to State court."
"This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc," stated officials.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI and the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Justice Services – Crow Creek Agency. Assistant U.S. Attorney Troy R. Morley prosecuted the case.
Following sentencing, Thompson was remanded into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.
