United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell has announced the sentencing of Oscar Hudspeth, Sr., a former law enforcement officer from Oglala, South Dakota. U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler sentenced Hudspeth to 30 years in federal prison for each count of Aggravated Sexual Abuse of a Child and Abusive Sexual Contact of a Child, with sentences to run concurrently. This will be followed by five years of supervised release on each count, also running concurrently, and a $200 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.
Hudspeth was indicted by a federal grand jury in December 2023 and found guilty following a trial in October 2024. The conviction arose from allegations made by a female juvenile who reported that Hudspeth sexually abused her during the early to mid-2000s while he was married to her mother. At that time, Hudspeth was serving as an officer for the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety.
The case falls under Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse. The program involves collaboration between federal, state, and local resources to prosecute offenders and rescue victims.
The prosecution was handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office under the Major Crimes Act, which requires certain violent crimes occurring in Indian Country to be prosecuted federally rather than at the state level. The FBI conducted the investigation with Assistant U.S. Attorney Ann M. Hoffman leading the prosecution.
Following his sentencing, Hudspeth was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.