United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced that Marino Waters, a resident of Rapid City, South Dakota, has been sentenced for making a false statement. The sentencing was delivered by U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler on April 25, 2025.
Waters, aged 32, received a sentence of time already served and five years of supervised release. Additionally, he is required to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Waters had been indicted by a federal grand jury in May 2024 and pleaded guilty on January 17, 2025.
The case stems from an incident on September 15, 2022, when a male drove his partially clothed girlfriend to the Indian Health Services hospital on the Pine Ridge Reservation and left her at the Emergency Department without providing their identities. He claimed that she had been accidentally shot during intimate relations when a firearm discharged.
Law enforcement later identified and located the male at his residence as he was cleaning up the crime scene and sending text messages claiming the shooting was accidental. A search failed to find the handgun used in the incident. The male faced charges including second-degree murder and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person.
A digital surveillance system seized from his residence revealed footage of Marino Waters driving Clayton Fire Thunder to the male’s house twice on September 15, 2022. Fire Thunder intended to sell a firearm for cash or methamphetamine but fired into the residence when no one answered the door, inadvertently killing the female inside.
In March 2023, Waters falsely told FBI agents that neither he nor Fire Thunder possessed a firearm during the shooting despite knowing otherwise. Fire Thunder was later tried and found guilty in January 2025 for causing the death of the female.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case under the Major Crimes Act due to its occurrence in Indian country. The investigation involved both the Oglala Sioux Tribe Department of Public Safety and the FBI with Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan Poppen handling prosecution duties.