Rapid City Man Sentenced for Fourth Failure to Register as a Sex Offender Conviction

RAPID CITY - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that Chief Judge, Roberto A. Lange, U.S. District Court, has sentenced a Rapid City, South Dakota, man convicted of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender. The sentencing took place on February 27, 2023.

Benjamen T. Flute, a/k/a Benjamin T. Flute, age 43, was sentenced to 25 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

Flute was indicted by a federal grand jury in September of 2022. He pleaded guilty on November 7, 2022.

Flute was convicted of Second-Degree Rape in Caddo County, Oklahoma, in December of 2007. As a result of this conviction, he is required to register as a sex offender and to update his registration within three business days of relocation or changing employment. Flute was convicted in U.S. District Court of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender in 2017, 2019, and 2021. In August of 2022, Flute was released from prison with instructions to begin supervised release in Rapid City. Flute thereafter did not arrive at his expected residence in Rapid City, and he failed to update his sex offender registration. An arrest warrant was subsequently issued, and Flute was arrested in Rapid City on August 25, 2022.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Albertson prosecuted the case.

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.

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