Porcupine Woman Pleads Guilty to Dispensing Intoxicants on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

United States Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that Julia Marie Lamont, a/k/a Marie Lamont, age 75, of Porcupine, South Dakota, appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Veronica L. Duffy on April 25, 2012, and pleaded guilty to count II of an indictment that charged her with Dispensing Intoxicants in Indian Country. The maximum penalty upon conviction is one year in prison and/or a $100,000 fine.

The charge relates to Lamont possessing and selling intoxicating liquor to other people on the reservation in December 2011. The charge stemmed from a joint Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety and Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Justice Services, operation targeting "bootlegging" of alcohol on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

A presentence investigation was ordered, and a sentencing date was set for May 24, 2012. The defendant was remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing.