A federal judge has sentenced a man from Timber Lake, South Dakota, convicted of Abusive Sexual Contact without Consent. The sentencing took place on August 25, 2025.
Jaren Loren Lane Mellette, age 27, was sentenced to three years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Mellette was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Mellette was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2024. He pleaded guilty on June 3, 2025.
During the summer of 2023, Mellette groped a 13-year-old girl without her consent. The incident occurred in Corson County, South Dakota, within the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation.
This matter was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office because the Major Crimes Act, a federal statute, authorizes certain crimes alleged to have occurred in Indian country to be prosecuted in federal court as opposed to State court.
This case was also 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 FBI. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Thunem prosecuted the case.
Mellette was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
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