Sturgis Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Federal Prison

RAPID CITY - United States Attorney Alison J. Ramsdell announced today that U.S. District Judge Karen E. Schreier sentenced a Sturgis, South Dakota, man convicted of Receipt of Child Pornography. The sentencing took place on July 25, 2024.

Jeffery Dean Sipe, 31, was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Sipe will be required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

In November of 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Sipe for Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, Enticement of a Minor Using the Internet, and Receipt of Child Pornography. He pleaded guilty on May 3, 2024.

In May of 2022, a local minor reported that Sipe had solicited images of child pornography from her and had forcibly raped her when she was between the ages of 15 to 17. Law enforcement found sexually explicit messages from Sipe in his Snapchat account which directed the victim to pose in certain ways and send him sexually explicit images of her. Multiple sexually explicit images of the minor were located on Sipe's electronic devices.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the DOJ's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.

This case was investigated by the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Pennington County Sheriff's Office, and the Rapid City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Knox prosecuted the case.

Sipe was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.