Rapid City Woman Sentenced for Felony Child Abuse and Neglect

United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a Rapid City, South Dakota, woman convicted of Felony Child Abuse and Neglect was sentenced by Chief Judge Jeffrey L. Viken, U.S. District Court.

Darcel Featherman, age 34, was sentenced on March 8, 2018, to 3 years of probation, ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund, and $4,293 in restitution to the Social Security Administration.

Featherman was indicted for the charge by a federal grand jury on May 23, 2017.  The charge related to Featherman giving temporary custody of her children to her mother and sister, knowing that they were unable to care for the children. 

On November 11, 2016, law enforcement found the two young children starving, and they were transported to Rapid City Regional and hospitalized for starvation.  The attending physician stated the children were extremely emaciated.  The physician advised law enforcement that this was the worst case of child abuse he had ever seen in his experience as a physician, and if the children had not been found, they would have passed from chronic starvation.

This case was investigated by the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety and the FBI.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Megan Poppen and Sarah Collins prosecuted the case.