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from www.billingsgazette.com – A former Crow tribal police officer will spend a year in federal prison for concealing photographs of sex abuse.
Senior U.S. District Judge Jack Shanstrom gave Ronald Dean Rides Horse, 37, of Crow Agency, a break in sentencing him to one year and a day, but declined a defense request for probation.
Rides Horse faced a guideline range of 21 to 27 months for his guilty plea to misprision of a felony, which is knowing about a crime but not reporting it.
Rides Horse apologized.
“I am embarrassed and deeply regret my actions, or in this case, nonaction,” he said. He said he took responsibility and had no excuse for not properly performing his duties as a law enforcement officer.
Defense attorney Sandy Selvey sought probation, saying Rides Horse did not destroy the photos and his failure to report did not hinder the prosecution of Gilbert George Walks Jr., 48, of Crow Agency, in the sex abuse case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Vince Carroll asked for a low-end guideline sentence. The failure to turn over the evidence delayed Walks’ prosecution, he said.
Rides Horse found the photos while investigating a car crash involving Walks’ son, who had taken a set of photographs and negatives to give to law enforcement. Rides Horse, who admitted he knew the people in the photographs, put the items in his gear bag.
He admitted that he became aware of an FBI investigation in the sex abuse case but still didn’t turn in the photos because he didn’t want to get into trouble.
The photos stayed in the gear bag for a year and eight months, until a law enforcement supervisor found them while cleaning out the bag after Rides Horse had been fired, Selvey said.
Walks was sentenced last year to 15 years in prison for sexual abuse and for being a felon in possession of ammunition. He admitted to taking sexually explicit photos of teenage girls while they appeared to be unconscious. Prosecutors said Walks dressed up one of the girls in thigh-high nylons and high heels and photographed himself having sex with her.
Shanstrom allowed Rides Horse to report to prison if he is sent to the facility in Yankton, S.D., or to the U.S. Marshals Service if assigned to another prison.