Rapid City Man Sentenced to Two Years and Three Months in Federal Prison For Failing to Register as a Sex Offender

RAPID CITY - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler has sentenced a Rapid City, South Dakota, man convicted of Failure to Register as a Sex Offender. The sentencing took place on November 18, 2024.

Patrick Left Hand Bull, age 51, was sentenced to 27 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.

A federal grand jury indicted Left Hand Bull in June 2024. He pleaded guilty on August 28, 2024.

Left Hand Bull is required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act as a result of a federal felony conviction in February 2014 for Abusive Sexual Contact. On March 11, 2024, he updated his sex offender registry address to the Cornerstone Rescue Mission in Rapid City. Left Hand Bull resided there intermittently between March 11, 2024, and April 23, 2024. Between April 27, 2024, and May 8, 2024, he did not live at the Cornerstone Rescue Mission and did not register or update his new address with the sex offender registry. Left Hand Bull knew of his requirement to register and knowingly failed to do so.

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 the U.S. Marshals Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Knox prosecuted the case.

Left Hand Bull was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.