OCTOBER 2023:
U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier has sentenced a Deadwood, South Dakota, man convicted of Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet.
Donald William Laun, 62, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Laun will also be required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
Laun was arrested as a result of an undercover sex trafficking operation conducted during the 2022 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, targeting internet predators. Following multiple chats and sexually explicit text messages with a person Laun believed to be a 14-year-old girl, but who was in fact an undercover agent, Laun proceeded to negotiate a time and place he would meet the minor to engage in unlawful sex acts. When Laun went to the pre-determined location to meet the minor, he was instead met by law enforcement agents and placed under arrest.
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 Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, and the Rapid City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah B. Collins prosecuted the case.
AUGUST 2022:
Five men from Rapid City and one from Sturgis are charged with Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet after a multi-agency investigation during this year’s Sturgis Motor Cycle Rally.
The South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), the South Dakota Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC), and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) conducted a joint sex-trafficking operation from Aug. 5-11, 2022.
As a result, the following six men were arrested and charged:
- Brandon Reide Prue, 27, Rapid City, South Dakota – Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet
- Donald William Laun, 61, Rapid City, South Dakota – Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet
- Kordelle Ray Running Hawk, 24, Rapid City, South Dakota- Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet
- Siddiq Ahmed Damkiwala, 32, Rapid City, South Dakota – Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet
- William Henry Riese, 31, Rapid City, South Dakota – Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet
- Christopher Daniel Luna, 32, Sturgis, South Dakota – Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet
The mandatory minimum penalty upon conviction for Attempted Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet is 10 years up to life in federal prison; and any term of years, not less than five, up to lifetime supervised release.
The agencies involved in the operation were DCI, ICAC, HSI, Ellsworth AFB Office of Special Investigations, Rapid City Police Department, Pennington County Sheriff’s Office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office would like to extend its appreciation to all law enforcement partners involved in the investigations for their efforts and continued cooperation.
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