Rapid City Man Arrested During 2023 Sturgis Rally Anti-Sex Trafficking Operation Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison

RAPID CITY - United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced today that U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler has sentenced a Rapid City, South Dakota, man convicted of Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet.  The sentencing took place on October 24, 2025.

James Fast Horse, 47, was sentenced to ten years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund, and $95 in restitution to the South Dakota Internet Crimes Investigation Fund.

Fast Horse was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2023.  He pleaded guilty on July 28, 2025.

Fast Horse was arrested following an undercover anti-sex trafficking operation conducted during the Sturgis Bike Rally.  Over the course of multiple days, Fast Horse used Facebook Messenger and his cell phone to communicate with a person he believed to be a 14-year-old female.  The female was actually the online undercover persona of a federal law enforcement officer.  During Fast Horse’s communications, he described various sex acts he intended to engage in with the girl and sent her multiple images of his private anatomy.  Fast Horse asked her to send him sexually explicit photos of herself.  On the night of his arrest, Fast Horse drove for more than an hour to meet the girl for sex. After he stopped at a local business to purchase sexual lubricant, he arrived at the designated meetup location and was arrested by law enforcement agents.

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.

This case was investigated by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations, the South Dakota DCI  Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Rapid City Police Department, and the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Knox prosecuted the case.

Fast Horse was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.