Alison J. Ramsdell U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
Alison J. Ramsdell U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of South Dakota
A Timber Lake man has been sentenced to three years in federal prison after pleading guilty to abusive sexual contact without consent. U.S. District Judge Charles B. Kornmann handed down the sentence to Jaren Loren Lane Mellette, 27, on August 25, 2025.
In addition to his prison term, Mellette will serve five years of supervised release and must pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2024 and entered a guilty plea on June 3, 2025.
The case stems from an incident during the summer of 2023 in Corson County, South Dakota, where Mellette groped a 13-year-old girl without her consent. The offense took place within the Standing Rock Sioux Indian Reservation.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, "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."
The prosecution was part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section since May 2006. The program coordinates efforts among federal, state, and local agencies to address child exploitation and abuse cases (https://www.justice.gov/psc).
The FBI investigated this case, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Carl Thunem serving as prosecutor.
Mellette was taken into custody immediately following sentencing.
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