United States Attorney Anne M. Tompkins
Western District of North Carolina
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – A Cherokee man was sentenced on Thursday, October 4, 2012, by U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger to serve 18 months in prison for statutory rape, announced Anne M. Tompkins, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina. Steven Christopher Archer, 21, of Cherokee was also sentenced to five years of supervised release and was ordered to register as a sex offender.
U.S. Attorney Tompkins is joined in making today’s announcement by Chief Ben Reed of the Cherokee Indian Police Department.
Archer pleaded guilty in October 2011 to one count of statutory rape. According to filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, in May 2011 Archer engaged in a sexual act with a minor between the ages of 12 and 16. The victim is an enrolled member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Archer is non-Indian.
Archer has been in local federal custody since October 2011. He will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility. Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.
The investigation of the case was handled by the Cherokee Indian Police Department. The prosecution of the case was handled by Don Gast of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville.
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