Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)

Red Lake man sentenced for assault

A 33-year-old Red Lake man was sentenced Tuesday for assaulting a female individual on the Red Lake Reservation.

David James Cook was sentenced to 120 months in prison for one count of assault resulting in serious bodily injury.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

Cook was indicted July 19 and pleaded guilty Nov. 14. His sentence will run concurrent to an unrelated 165-month federal sentence for conspiring to possess with intent to distribute oxycodone.

Cook in a plea agreement accepted responsibility for assaulting the female individual, who as a result suffered serious bodily injury.

The case was the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Red Lake Tribal Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Deidre Y. Aanstad.

Because the Red Lake Indian Reservation is a federal-jurisdiction reservation, some of the crimes that occur there are investigated by the FBI in conjunction with the Red Lake Tribal Police Department. Those cases are prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The U.S. Justice Department is taking steps to increase engagement, coordination and action relative to public safety in tribal communities, including the creation of the Violence Against Women Federal and Tribal Prosecution Task Force. The task force will explore current issues raised by professionals in the field and recommend best practices in prosecution strategies involving domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.

Violence against American Indian women occurs at high rates. In 2005, Congress found that one in three American Indian women is raped during her lifetime, and American Indian women are nearly three times more likely to be battered during their lives than Caucasian women.

 

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