Cannonball Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Federal Officer

BISMARCK – U.S. Attorney Timothy Q. Purdon announced that on Jan. 3, 2014, Christopher Thunder Hawk, 19, Cannonball, N.D., pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to a charge of assaulting a federal officer.

On Dec. 30, 2012, Thunder Hawk kicked a BIA police officer in the chest.

The charge of assaulting a federal officer carries a statutory maximum penalty of eight years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by Bureau of Indian Affairs – Standing Rock Agency and the Standing Rock Police Department, with the assistance of the Standing Rock Tribal Prosecutor’s Office.

Sentencing for Thunder Hawk has been scheduled for April 14, 2014, in U.S. District Court in Bismarck, N.D., at 11:00 a.m.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Delorme is prosecuting the case.