Skip to main content
Press Release

Sioux Falls Man Charged with Failure to Register as a Sex Offender

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of South Dakota

SIOUX FALLS - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that a federal grand jury has indicted a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, man for Failure to Register as a Sex Offender.

Maurice Sitting Bear, age 48, was indicted in March of 2023. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Veronica L. Duffy on March 9, 2023, and pleaded not guilty to the Indictment.

The maximum penalty upon conviction is up to 10 years in federal prison and/or a $250,000 fine, life of supervised release, and $100 to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Restitution may also be ordered.

The Indictment alleges that Sitting Bear, who had previously been convicted of a sex crime and required to register under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, failed to do so between April 12, 2021, and January 18, 2023.

The charge is merely an accusation and Sitting Bear is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. 

The investigation is being conducted by the U.S. Marshal Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann M. Hoffman is prosecuting 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.

Sitting Bear was remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending trial, which has been set for May 16, 2023.

Updated March 29, 2023

Topic
Project Safe Childhood