Fort Thompson Man Sentenced for Felon in Possession of a Firearm

United States Attorney Randolph J. Seiler announced that a Fort Thompson, South Dakota, man convicted of Felon in Possession of a Firearm was sentenced on November 17, 2015, by U.S. District Judge Roberto A. Lange.

Roscoe Dan Witt, Jr., age 30, was sentenced to 27 months in custody, followed by 2 years of supervised release, and a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Witt was indicted by a federal grand jury on March 10, 2015.  He pled guilty on August 25, 2015.

Witt was convicted of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon in 2004 and was sentenced to federal custody, followed by supervised release.  As a convicted felon, Witt cannot possess any firearms.  The current conviction stems from an incident on November 29, 2014, when a call was received at the Crow Creek Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Police Department informing them that someone inside a cream colored Chevrolet Impala was shooting a gun around the old Fort Thompson area.  A BIA officer was notified about the call, responded and saw the vehicle

He observed Witt by the driver side door.  Witt was walking towards the front door of the store, but then turned around with his hand in his right pocket, opened the back door and put something into the vehicle.

The officer approached the driver side rear door and recovered a Premier 32 Smith and Wesson .32 Caliber handgun with the trigger locked back, as it was ready to be fired by pulling onto the trigger.  Contact was made with Witt and he was placed into tribal custody. At the jail, officers recovered from Witt a .32 caliber casing.

The Division of Criminal Investigation laboratory confirmed that the .32 shell casing recovered from Witt was fired from the Premier 32 Smith and Wesson .32 Caliber handgun.

This case was investigated by the BIA.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan N. Dilges prosecuted the case.

Witt was immediately turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.