{KXLG – Watertown, SD} United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann had sentenced Deserick Jake Bird, a 37-year-old man from Watertown, South Dakota, for Abusive Sexual Contact.
The sentencing took place on November 4, 2024, in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Bird was given a 20-year sentence in federal prison and 10 years of supervised release. He was ordered to make a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. In addition, Bird is to serve an 80-year sentence for a separate sexual assault conviction in the State of South Dakota.
Bird was initially indicted for Aggravated Sexual Abuse of a Child by a federal grand jury in February 2022. He pleaded guilty to Abusive Sexual Contact on August 19, 2024. Over three years, Bird sexually assaulted a young girl between the ages of eight and 11. A second victim also reported that Bird had sexually assaulted her when she was 14 years old.
This case fell under the umbrella of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative inaugurated in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Directed by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, this project coordinates federal, state, and local efforts to find, arrest, and prosecute those who victimize children, and to identify and rescue the victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit justice.gov/psc.
The FBI and Sisseton Wahpeton Tribal Law Enforcement investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Ebert-Webb prosecuted the case.
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