Sioux City Man Sentenced to 54 Months for Sexual Abuse of a Minor

United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Marquel Grant, age 20, of Sioux City, Iowa, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha, Nebraska, for sexual abuse of a minor on the Omaha Nation Indian Reservation.  United States District Judge Brian C. Buescher sentenced Grant to 54 months in prison.  After Grant’s release from prison, he will begin a five-year term of supervised release.  There is no parole in the federal system.  As a result of this conviction, Grant will be required to register as a sex offender. 

On November 15, 2018, Grant, then 18, interacted with the minor via SnapChat.  Grant and the minor met up in Walthill, Nebraska, and walked to an abandoned residence.  Outside of the residence, Grant put the minor on the ground.  Grant started kissing the minor.  The minor said no to Grant and tried pushing him away.  Grant pinned the minor’s arms to the ground, unbuckled her pants, and pulled her pants and underwear down to her ankles.  He attempted sexual intercourse with the minor before she was finally able to force Grant away. 

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Omaha Nation Law Enforcement Services.