Repeat offender sentenced to 180 months for abusive sexual contact

A federal judge sentenced a 22-year-old man to 15 years in prison for “abusive sexual contact” with a child on the Colville Indian Reservation.

Senior United States District Court Judge William Fremming Nielsen sentenced Steven Ray St. Peter for his abuse of a minor child on the reservation in 2012.

On June 12 of that year, a federal prosecutor’s press release said, the family of the 9-year-old victim reported the sexual contact to the Colville Tribal Police who began a search for St. Peter. Witnesses told police they saw St. Peter running away from the scene of the crime. St. Peter was arrested shortly thereafter in a nearby residence in Omak by Colville Tribal Police Officers.

St. Peter pled guilty on March 19, 2014.

“Sexual abuse will not be tolerated within any of the four Indian Reservations in the Eastern District of Washington,” United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington stated. “This District’s federal and tribal law enforcement partners are ever-vigilant when investigating sexual abuse crimes. Their tireless efforts resulted in the successful prosecution of St. Peter and prevented other minor victims from being victimized by him. Today’s sentence plainly reflects the seriousness of this type of crime.”

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Colville Tribal Police Department. The case was prosecuted by Matthew F. Duggan, assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.

St. Peter will be under court supervision for 60 months after he is released from federal prison.